High and dry

Date of Observation: 11/15/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Peeler and Oh-Be-Joyful Basin. Traveled on a variety of aspects from 10,000 to 12,000 ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new except a few harmless wet loose sluffs from the last couple days on steep southerlies. Noted a few more previously undocumented D1.5 to D2 sized naturals that ran during last week’s cycle.
Weather: Warm, clear skies, light winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability. A couple of stability tests on east aspects produced non-propagating results on the Nov 9 crust/facet layer, down 14″ to 18″. This layer appears to be gaining strength compared to pits in similar locations last week. Total snow depths near and above treeline average 3 to 4 feet on shady aspects, and a foot or less on sunny aspects. Snow surfaces vary widely, from hard wind board and sastrugi on wind-affected slopes, wet grains on SE to SW aspects, and surface hoar and/or near surface facets in wind-protected, shady cirques.