Date of Observation: 03/22/2021
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location:
Aspect: North East, East, South East
Elevation: 9,500-11,500
Avalanches: No slab avalanches observed. Small debris piles from loose snow avalanches.
Weather: Clear sky in the morning, became mostly cloudy in the afternoon with periods of sun or poor vis and convective snow showers. The average calm or light winds would get a bit more gusty during the stormy periods and I’d assume they were stronger at ridgeline. Our skin track did refill between laps.
Snowpack: Last weekend’s interface was around 30cm’s deep. Given the amount of recent and now well settled snow, we found ourselves initially managing for wider spread storm slabs and more specific wind slabs. That recent snow was resting on crusts on the easterly slopes and softer or lightly fasted snow on the more shaded aspects. In the end neither avalanche problem appeared to be reactive and the past sluffs around the area also were not pulling out slabs. While confidence in the snowpack improved throughout the day, we were not about to let our guard down for the potential of an avalanche in the upper snowpack. Todays colder temps helped keep the ski quality high.