We saw this today after it happened. Looked like a snowmobile triggered it. I believe it is mostly south facing. Thanks.
We saw two recent shallow wind slab avalanches. No recent slides breaking deeper.
This one at NE 9000'
Pleasantly surprised with what we found at Lionhead. Snow depths are 120-150 cm (4-5 ft)
Good visibility let us look at a huge area today and dig snow pits in 6 places mostly looking at the mid to late January near surface facets. They are generally buried ~2 feet deep.
Locations, test scores, and hardness for this layer:
We saw two recent shallow wind slab avalanches. No recent slides breaking deeper. The extra loading from wind could make this nsf layer more likely to fracture and produce an avalanche. Otherwise, it seems to be losing its sensitivity and will only improve this week with minimal loading.
Weak snow deeper in the snowpack has gained hardness and I doubt it will make avalanches unless it gets a massive load very quickly.
Snow conditions are 5-star
Toured the ramp today and observed an avalanche in hour glass. It was a soft slab that broke in some rocks near the top of the chute, it ran the entire length of the chute and the debris was fairly large (d1.5). The crown looked to be between 8” and 1.5 ft, and was about 30 ft wide.
Toured the ramp today and observed an avalanche in hour glass. It was a soft slab that broke in some rocks near the top of the chute, it ran the entire length of the chute and the debris was fairly large (d1.5). The crown looked to be between 8” and 1.5 ft, and was about 30 ft wide.
Bacon Rind
Consistent crusts at Around 75cm up and 63cm up
Facets at 35cm up to Ground
44.96280, -111.08678, 10:14
7850ft
68 E
20 degrees
HST 110cm
ECTP 25 65 cm up
ECTp 16 35 cm up
44.96019, -111.09583, 11:30
8578ft
59 NE
10 degrees
Hst110cm
ECTN25 75cm up
ECTP16 63cm up
Dig on the way up to Mt. Blackmore on a W aspect at 8000’. Snow was pretty shallow (130cm) for the area. Noticed the dust layer underneath the most recent snow. Had unremarkable pit results. ECTN11 on the dust layer being the most notable. Saw a couple of small wind slabs and intentionally triggered one on a small rollover. Definitely a good bit of active transport going on out there.
We rode over Daisy Pass out to Mt. Abundance, then behind Fisher and around Scotch Bonnet back to Lulu Road. Snowed light this morning with partly sunny skies mid-day. Wind was moderate and gusty out of the west. We were able to see most terrain north of the passes. Clouds obstructed great views of east Henderson and east Miller.
We saw a fresh natural wind slab near Wolverine, R1-D1.5 (photo attached). We watched two snowboarders trigger separate wind slabs, while riding one at a time in avalanche terrain, on the south side of Scotch Bonnet (photos attached). They rode away safely. These looked 12" deep and 20' wide, and entrained snow to run a good distance, R1-D2.
We dug a pit on the south shoulder of Mt. Abundance and had an ECTX. There were some density changes in the recent snow that might contribute to wind slabs or storm slabs breaking easier for another day or two, but they seemed more stubborn than yesterday.
Wind slab avalanches were the primary concern today, and I expect they will continue to grow tonight and with any more wind tomorrow. They will remain likely and easy to trigger for at least another day.
We have not seen any persistent slab avalanches breaking below last week's snow or deeper over the last few days. This is a good sign, but I am not ready to write off the possibility quite yet. It is worth continuing to dig and test for buried weak layers for now. The avalanche on east Henderson last Tuesday and the avalanche on Crown Butte last Monday were deep and possibly broke on persistent weak layers, and were on heavily wind loaded slopes. These types of areas are worth avoiding and where a bigger avalanche may be possible to trigger.
