Anthracite Mesa (Elkton Knob)

Obvious signs of instability on east and northeast aspects in this area.  It seemed easy to trigger an avalanche where slabs rest above persistent weak layers of surface hoar or facets or thin, collapsible crusts above facets.  I toured very near this location on Tuesday and the slabs were just soft enough to reduce concerns for triggered avalanches in sheltered areas, but that was NOT the case today.  Slabs remain mostly fist hard but there is just enough 4-finger snow to drive propagation and produce dangerous avalanches.  Westerly winds were drifting lots of snow to easterly aspects at the ridge top.

In sheltered areas, I commonly experienced muffled collapses and shooting cracks on east and northeast aspects in areas toured just below and above 11,000 feet. I remotely triggered two avalanches on east to northeast aspects on the late January persistent weak layer. Collapses in drifted areas became noticeably louder as I moved over stiffer snow.

About 7" of dense, new snow as of 3 pm around Elkton diminished to about 3 inches at the Washington Gulch trailhead.  I experienced muffled collapses in sheltered terrain on both surface hoar/facets and thin, brittle crusts on the sunnier portion of east aspect.  Slab thickness was around 50 to 60 cm in this area (20-24 inches) with around 6 inches of 4-finger hardess at the bottom of the slab.  Slopes facing north or east steeper than 35 degrees seemed very likely to release an avalanche.  Winds shifted to the west around noon and transported snow to leeward features.

I quickly poked into southerly slopes in the area, storm totals look too small to produce significant avalanche activity other than well-drifted terrain; this could change if the storm overproduces.  Crusts below Wednesday's snow are soft and thin (no more than 1cm).