Date of Observation: 12/29/2020
Name: Drew Kelly
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Red Coon Glades
Aspect: South East
Elevation: 11,100K
Avalanches: Lots of collapsing, and long shooting cracks. We climbed and “skied” terrain less than about 31 degrees. Nearing the 30 degree angle (+/- a degree or two) nearly everything collapsed and fractured. We sent continuous cracks nearly 200 ft across one slope, a distance that surprised us (see picture). There were numerous other slopes where cracks travelled 50+ft.
All moving snow seemed to break at the interface between the last few days’ storm slab and the older decomposing snow from previous weeks.
Weather: Occasional light breeze mostly near and above treeline, intermittent cloud cover, ~10-20F, light snow.
Snowpack: Snow depths varied between 1-2ft. In some places recent storm snow sat on bare ground; in other places that recent storm snow sat on a melt-freeze crust that was on top of faceting older snow.
Photos:
