White Wing

Toured out from Obsidian Dome with the aim of skiing white wing, up to yost meadows, down to four seasons. Predicted high winds were...as predicted. Cracking and collapsing occured all throughout the glass meadow zone below White Wing and up the slope towards Yost. The other side of the saddle was likely getting massively wind loaded, so we bailed out via the resort.

*Forecaster Note*

ESAC forecasters visited the site of an avalanche that was reported on 2/17. This avalanche occurred naturally on the north face of White Wing in the Glass Creek drainage. This was a D2 Wind slab avalanche that ran approximately 1000 vertical feet, terminating in Glass Creek. Probing the debris we noted depths ranging from 140cm to 200 cm. Wind loading over the past couple of days made collecting precise details of the crown width a bit difficult. Estimates based on photos from 2/17 would put the width at approximately 400 feet with a depth measured around 100cm. We were able to dig in at the crown on one of the flanks and found the height of snow in this location was approximately 230 cm and largely 1 f to K hard with about 10 cm of basal facets on the ground. There was no obvious weak layer at the failure plane but the largely strong snowpack was broken by occasional density changes. In evaluating recent weather patterns our best guess is that this avalanche likely occurred during a period of strong southerly winds on 2/15. Probing the debris we noted depths ranging from 140cm to 200 cm.