Quick report
- Collapsing
- isolated
Observed several avalanches that appeared to follow the last significant snowfall on Jan 18th. Had a few collapses. Breakable crust on all aspects up to 8000'. Great uphill skiing., but the breakable crust made for a difficult exit below 7000'. Very little snow remains below 6000'. Most recent avalanche activity observed was from about 1-18-2024. Had a few isolated collapses. Pole probing showed thick slab over thick layer of facets.
Weather
- Air Temp
- above freezing below 6000'; high temp at 4200' was 46!
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 7000'
- Recent Snowfall
- 3 inches
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Very pleasant warm and mostly calm day, partly cloudy. No snow transport.
Snowpack
Breakable melt-freeze crust on all aspects up to 8000', with a few inches of new snow above 7000'. Didn't dig a pit but did some pole probing. 36" total depth at 7000'; 46" at 8400'. Snowpack structure consisted of 6" of soft snow over a very dense, 1-finger to pencil hard, 24"-thick slab with multiple layers and crusts within. All was sitting on 16" or so of loose facets. Although the strong slab seemed like it would be tough to trigger, the collapses here and there suggest there are still some booby traps out there, and there were plenty of steep slopes still hanging. In the words of Clint Eastwood: "Do you feel lucky?" I didn't, so I stuck to low-angle terrain.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 8700 ft
Saw a large avalanche that had looked fresh on the morning of Jan 18th after about 10" of snow overnight. Although I couldn't see the whole thing then. the crown appeared to be a couple feet deep. I had a better view yesterday. Avalanche occurred on steep, east aspect at about 8700', estimated at 300+' wide running 1000 vertical feet. This was a large avalanche for this path. On Jan 24, I also observed several other avalanches on very steep north aspects 8400-8700' that appeared to have run about the same time. But there were plenty of other steep slopes that had not avalanched....yet.