Lost Horse

The days plan was to ski tour up wahoo pass, down the west side, North over unnamed pass, down to east fork moose, then back up lost horse pass to upper twin lake. Based on yesterday’s observations, the plan was to avoid any consequential avalanche terrain, Surprisingly deep snow on upper twin lake, boot penetration 75cm. Saw several crowns on slope above upper twin lake, and many sled tracks from yesterday. Climbed up to slope just south of wahoo pass. I dropped in first, and immediately triggered a D1 slide, between rocks on a 35 degree rollover. Got caught, but the slope was only about 10 meters of vertical before a bench, so didn’t ride far. Continued down slope as per plan. During climb up there were many collapses. At transition point, i remote triggered another D1 50cm crown, that ran 20 meters. Investigating bed surface showed 1-2 cm surface hoar. Many more slides were triggered on the descent. Basically everything over 33 degrees was sliding. Below 6600 feet surface hoar became non-reactive, and we ski cut several 40 degree rollovers without results. A quick hand pit showed the surface hoar was still present. 10 years of skiing in this zone, this was the most reactive avalanche conditions I’ve seen. Did not see anything over a d1.5, but on a larger slope triggering a d2 would definitely be possible. This surface hoar seems like it could be a PWL that sticks around for a while. I think weak layer was more reactive than yesterday because the slab was stiffer.

Lost Horse

Quick report

Avalanche