Silver Creek

We witnessed wet loose avalanches today and observed ones that released yesterday. They were focused on the southern half of the compass and were mostly small but plenty big to push you or bury you in a terrain trap. We are concerned with the rising potential for wet slab avalanches as meltwater moves deeper, reaching weak layers of snow that have remained mostly dry this year, including upper elevation slopes and shadier slopes at middle elevations. 

No cracking or collapsing. Wet loose avalanches are described below.

We found meltwater actively pooling ↓50 cm at the 3/12 interface on an E-facing slope at 9,800', wrapping to NE, meltwater was pooling at an intermediate crust ↓20 cm and had only formed a surface crust on NNE. This aligned with natural activity in this area, which was mostly roller balls on NW-N-NE where the upper snowpack was still mostly dry, switching to wet loose on W-SW-S-SE-E. Pits are summarized below:

NNE @ 9,800'
Surface crust but no meltwater below. Dust layer ↓60 cm. 3/12 ↓100 cm, presented as rounds above and below. No concerning layers in the upper snowpack.

NE @ 9,800'
Wet surface. Meltwater is pooling near an old windskin or crust layer ↓20 cm (ECTN11). Dust layer not obviously present. 3/12 ↓40 cm (ECTN23).

E @ 9,800'
Wet surface. Meltwater is pooling at the 3/12 interface ↓50 cm, and is starting to move below this interface (ECTX). Dust layer not obviously present.