Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 04/12/2019
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: Strong April Sun Cooking It Down
Elevation: 9,000-12,300
Avalanches: Natural Loose Wet Avalanches were small in size, but powerful given their wet nature. These avalanches mainly failed on east to south to west aspects, while the recent storm snow had also become moist on some northerly aspects.
One fresh D2 soft slab had failed below an easterly ridge at 12,000ft. An older D2 Wet Slab was also observed in the Happy Chutes ENE ~9600ft.
Weather: Partly cloudy sky, with plenty of that strong April Sun. Winds were calm to light and 11,000’ish FT weather stations showed high temps in the mid to upper 20’s.
Snowpack: The sun did its thing and cooked down the new snow. North stayed dry, but other slopes all saw the effects of the sun up to the elevation traveled. The deepest drifts where isolated in the terrain and didn’t seem to cover big parts of the slopes. Managing terrain for a windslab avalanche problem around a foot thick was spot on. While a Loose Wet Avalanche problem developed, it was smaller in comparison.
-
- Fresh D2 soft slab, failed below an easterly ridge at 12,000ft
-
- Fairly due north ski tracks highlighting dry snow and some sluffing
-
- Example of todays loose wet avalanches. East Aspect at 11,700ft.
-
- An older D2 Wet Slab was also observed in the Happy Chutes ENE ~9600ft
-
- Another sallow soft slab that had failed on an easterly aspect at 11,900ft