Quick report
- Aspect
- East
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading
- Elevation
- 2926 m
- Slope Angle
- 35°
I dug a pit to see how the new/old snow interface at the dirt layer was reacting and see if I could find any remnants of the PWL. I dug on a 35° east facing slope at 9640'. The total height of snow was 10' (310cm).
The weakest layer was the new/old snow interface that was reactive with propagation (ECTP 7 and ECTP 10) 9.8"(25cm) from the surface. This is the same layer that I believe was the failure point in the above avalanches. The other result that got my attention was failure with propagation 21.5" (55cm) down from the surface. This layer failed on small grained faceted crystals associated with a decomposing melt-freeze crust (ECTP 27 and ECTP 28). This is the layer that gets my attention for creating much larger avalanches.
Below photo showing pit wall with failure plane at 55cm from the surface and dust layer 25cm from the surface. Everything above the dust layer was new snow and there was an inch of graupel mixed with the dust.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Density changes within the storm snow and I was able to trigger an avalanche 6" deep running on the old/new storm interface associated with the dirt layer. The first photo below is a north facing slope at 9120'. This avalanche was intentionally triggered and was 45'-50' wide and and ran 100' piling up into the gully. It was a soft slab avalanche and broke at my skis. I also observed an avalanche (second photo) on a northeast facing slope at 9600' that ran within the new snow and had been covered back over by more new snow. This is similar to what you may have seen in other steep terrain during periods of increased snowfall rates.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>With forecasted strong winds there may be areas of wind-drifted snow that will be sensitive to the additional weight of a backcountry traveler. </p>
Good skiing on north and east aspects. West and south aspects still had a melt freeze crust that you could feel on steeper terrain.