Date of Observation: 03/10/2021
Name: Kinler, Caprio, Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Kebler Pass
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,500ft to 11,900ft
Avalanches: Remotely triggered one small soft slab from about 10 feet away. Crown estimated to have averaged about 8″ thick, failing in faceted snow between a pair of soft crusts. Steep East aspect 11,600ft. While small in size, this avalanche ran about 1,200 feet through steep terrain. Skier triggered a couple small loose snow avalanches that were mostly stubborn to trigger on steep northerly facing slopes below treeline.
Weather: Snowfall tapered off for most of the day, before starting to pick back up again around 5pm. Mostly light to moderate winds were we traveled. Clearly stronger winds at higher elevations and plumes of some of the high peaks.
Snowpack: We mostly traveled on northerly facing slopes below treeline. At valley bottom,HST at 4:30 was 5″ settled with .45″ SWE(9% density) Here, the new snow was a bit thick. Loose snow avalanches where the main concern, though they were a bit stubborn to trigger on steep 40 degree slopes. A couple interfaces of small facets were observable in the upper 20cm’s of the snowpack. Something to keep an eye on down the road.
