Quick report
From near the Twin Lakes trailhead we had a good view of a small windslab avalanche just outside the MMSA boundary in Dave's Wave. Trigger unknown.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 30cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Cold with calm winds below treeline. Northeast winds were scouring east through north facing terrain above the treeline. Blowing snow was visible over the Sierra Crest throughout the day.
Snowpack
Below treeline HS: 50 to 130cm
Near treeline HS: 80 to 110cm
Ski penetration 20cm to 30cm. Boot penetration to the ground.
At 9800' on an NNE slope, we identified (CT13 SC) the likely failure plane of recent wind slab avalanches 40cm below the snow surface. We aslo identified a deeper layer of concern in the depth hoar around a decomposing melt-Freeze crust 60cm down from the surface. We did not observe propagation on either of these layers in the ECT.
In this area the weak layers are present, but recent low-density snow and faceted old snow are currently too weak to act as a cohesive slab.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R2
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Elevation
- 10700 ft
D1.5 wind slab in Dave's Wave just outside the ski area boundary.