Date of Observation: 11/15/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Baldy, traveled on E to N aspects to 11,900′
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Intentionally ski triggered a pair of small slab avalanches on an east facing, cross drifted ridge near treeline. The slabs were up to 12″ thick, ~25 ft wide, 4F+ on average. One previous natural on a NE aspect, likely from last week. All small in size.
Weather: Too cold for my toes. Light breeze, no snow transport. Scattered cloud cover. An inch of snow in the past 24 hours.
Snowpack: Found ourselves on a particularly chatty east facing slope that produced numerous collapses and shooting cracks ranging from 10 to 50 feet, failing on a thin, faceted crust (Nov 3). Once we got to a ridge where it was more drifted, we popped a couple of slabs by collapsing the slope while skinning. No other signs of instability on other slopes.
-
- Looking downslope from a skier triggered slab.
-
- Shooting crack, drifted slope. E NTL
-
- Shooting crack on a slope without much drifting. E NTL
