Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Traveled on east and northeast aspects of Mt. Baldy to 12,000 ft.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: A handful of natural activity ran during last night’s snowfall, mostly small, with one longer running D2. We remotely triggered a couple of small pockets of wind slab from about 30 feet away, and remotely triggered a larger D1.5 wind slab that was about 50 feet wide and ran about 600 feet over rocks. Weather: Light snowfall. Light to moderate northwest winds with short periods of drifting snow. Snowpack: 6″ to 8″ of new storm snow over a generally weak and faceted snowpack (.5 – 1.5mm facets) mixed with a few crusts on more easterly aspects. Fresh drifts up to 2 feet thick. We noted consistent collapsing and shooting cracks up to 50 feet on every wind loaded feature, along with some shooting cracks where winds have stiffened the snow surface. These all appeared to be failing on the storm interface. In wind-protected areas, we noted only minor cracking. Stability test in a wind-sheltered slope showed no propagation.
Shooting crack on a slope where winds have slightly stiffened the surface
Several shooting cracks triggered from where I took this photo
I remotely triggered this small pocket from about 30 feet away.
Large collapse and shooting crack in this drifted feature, up to 2 feet thick.
I remotely triggered this wind slab from the ridgeline. It broke about a foot thick.
Relative Size: R2 small Destructive Size: D2 – could bury, injure, or kill a person Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet): 1300
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet): 400
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
