Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
Toured Skyline Lake > Tye Peak > PCT > Odin's Bowl (Valhalla) and out the lower SW shoulder of Lichtenberg. Significant wind effect noted on ridges with notable wind slab formation on lee/crossloaded aspects. S ridge of Tye on our ascent largely scoured with plenty of snow transported onto the E/SE aspect of the mountain. Descended NW Ridge of Tye Peak and intentionally triggered a D1.5 windslab on this feature. We experienced collapsing/cracking of non wind effected snow on the remainder of the descent as we conservatively made our way down the treed ridge. We arrived to Odin's Bowl observing two tracks in the bowl from a party earlier in the day and a small windslab that had been triggered on the far right side of the bowl. A ski cut across the top convexity just right of the gut resulted in a slab failing on what I presume to be weak snow at the old/new interface, D1.5. We elected to ski down the sheltered ridge following this event and experienced ongoing localized collapses on lower angle northerly aspects as we made our way to Lake Valhalla. We observed one natural avalanche in steep SE facing terrain at approximately 5000ft as we traveled across the PCT from Tye to Odin's Bowl. No other natural avalanches were observed. The day was overcast with occasional breaks, precipitation was intermittent and very light. Winds were at times moderate at ridgelines. Snow below 4.5k warmed significantly by the time we exited the field at 1530.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- NW
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 5300 ft
Intentional trigger of a very obviously loaded convexity on the NW ridge of Tye Peak. Crown demonstrated 1F+ density, debris ran into trees 200-300ft below trigger point.