Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Cross loaded gullies. Predominant wind direction was westerly (down valley). With the exception of the very small avalanche observed on our tour, we did not observe any slides in the area. Potential for very sensitive wind slabs 2+ ft thick in cross loaded areas. Lots of alders exposed throughout lower elevations of Gold Mint Valley. Observed numerous isolated small wind slabs above the alder line between 2,500' and 3,100'. The upper part of our tour was characterized by highly variable mixed pockets of wind scoured snow, wind deposited snow, and unconsolidated sugar snow. We observed small to medium size avalanche debris at the base of a cross-loaded cliff feature at about 3,100'. We toured to the east of the debris to a protected zone with the intention of doing a quick pit. We observed shooting cracks within wind-deposited snow about 1-2' deep. The bed surface was pencil hard and very slick. We opted to leave the area rather than investigating further.
Weather
Warm temperatures and mostly calm winds throughout the tour. Pockets of low clouds. Late-day clouds caused poor visibility necessitating we turn around.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Aspect
- NW
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 3200 ft
Debris appeared to be 1-2 days old. Small track with debris blocks likely ranging from 2-4' wide and 1-2' thick. Total width of deposition zone was about 100'.