Richmond crown investigation

Date of Observation: 01/03/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River to Mt. Richmond to check out a deep slab crown.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 2 large wind slabs that looked fresh, likely ran sometime over the weekend, along with a number of small ones. Got good views of some of the previously documented slides on Schuykill and in Baxter, along with a few that ran during the storm that we haven’t noted yet. The debris piles below Schuykill Ridge are impressive, and they knocked over several mature trees. The slides off of Richmond and/or Bichmond also knocked over a handful of mature trees.
Weather: Cold, clear, a few short-lived moments of light snow transport from southwest winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability underfoot or machine on a mix of steep and low angle slopes. Small grained surface hoar is growing at low elevations.
I looked at the crown on the northeast face of Richmond. The crown ranged from 8 to 12 feet thick. It was pencil hard where I could reach it. It failed on a weak layer of 1.5 to 2.0 mm rounding facets (4F+), which was about 40 to 70 cm off of the ground. There was about a foot of snow on the bed surface so it must have run on 12/31.