Date of Observation: 11/20/2021
Name: Jack Caprio
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small D .5 dry loose sluffing in steep north aspects.
Weather: Overcast all day. Intermittent periods of S-1 snowfall. Around 3 pm, precipitation rate increased to consistent S1.
Snowpack: About an inch of new snow this morning at the valley bottom. Above 12,000’ there was about 3-4 inches of fresh snow. New snow was reactive on steep slopes producing sluff on every turn. The sluffs ran the length of the slope but did not gouge into the rest of the snowpack. The snowpack on north facing terrain was very weak top to bottom, without a slab. East facing terrain in this area had a thin breaker crust below the new snow, making for punchy conditions.