Date of Observation: 04/14/2021
Name: Evan Ross and Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Axtell
Aspect: North
Elevation: 9,500-11,900
Avalanches: Easy to manage dry loose avalanches on steep north-facing slopes above 10,500ft.
Weather: Few clouds in the morning and increasing in the afternoon. Light winds where we traveled, could see a few small plumes near the Elk Crest mid day.
Snowpack: The steeper north-facing terrain we skied above 10,500ft had a mostly dry old snow surface with about 1.5″ of new snow on top. The new snow was producing small sluffs that were easy to manage. Below 10,500ft on the lower angled slopes, the snow surface became very sticky and wet. The flatter terrain remained supportable to skis around noon. We didn’t get a good sample of low elevation terrain on steeper slope angles, but one small northerly test slope entrained the top 6″ to 8″ of wet snow after a ski cut.
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- Small dry loose avalanches.
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- The closest thing we could find to a wind slab: harmless 2″ thick drifts.
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- Wet snow gouging down about 6″ to 8″ on a small low elevation test slope.
