Date of Observation: 11/15/2022
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate. E to NE, 9,700 to 12,000ft.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several small sluffs or possibly a couple very small wind slabs above treeline.
Weather: Partly cloudy ski in the morning becoming mostly cloudy early afternoon. Calm to light winds and cold temps.
Snowpack: Around an inch of very low-density new snow for the most part, becoming a few inches of new snow above 11,000ft. A little bit of fresh drifting above treeline on the most wind-exposed terrain. Pushed one very small wind slab that was isolated to right at the ridgeline.
The old hard slabs that are hiding out on some previously wind-loaded terrain features didn’t show any obvious signs of instability today, or this past Sunday. In general, as the snowpack continues to weaken with the cold weather, the interface between those old slabs and the facets below continues to become less pronounced. Both the grain size and hardness are often changing gradually between the layers of snow vs abruptly like when that avalanche problem was fresh.
The skiing is still surprisingly good in some areas.
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