Date of Observation: 01/17/2021
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Aspect: West, North West
Elevation: 10,500-11,200
Snowpack: Traveled through westerly facing terrain features at both BTL and NTL elevations. I’ve been through that area 2 other times in the last couple of weeks. Each time now on a slightly different route. Basically, on 1/6 traveling through that area produced some alarming and far running shooting cracks. On 1/12 there were still some concerning shooting cracks and uninspiring red flags, but a little quieter than back on 1/6. Now today, there was still some nice soft snow in protected areas, but no avalanche concerns due to a heavily faceted snowpack. While the hard slabs we traveled on at both BTL and NTL elevations also didn’t show any signs of instability. Today was the first time I wasn’t concerned about triggering an avalanche in that terrain. Spent a bit of time traveling other aspects, N,E,S… also with no signs to instability.