Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Schuylkill Ridge. Traveled on SE, E, NE and N aspects to 11,400′.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: A pair of large persistent slabs ran naturally this morning in First Bowl, probably sympathetic. From ridgetop, we remotely triggered another large slab in First Bowl which appeared to sympathetically trigger a large slab in Birthday Bowl. Crowns were 2 to 3 feet thick on average, failing on fist hard, large grained facets. Spotted three D1-1.5 natural persistent slabs in Climax Chutes. Numerous skier triggered and natural loose dry avalanches on all aspects below treeline, D1 in size. The light was too flat to see much else. Weather: Snowfall rates tapered by the time we got to the trailhead around 11 a.m. Light to moderate rates this afternoon, with a short period of heavy snowfall. About a foot of low-density snow accumulated since early this morning. Winds were moderate at ridgetop with a decent amount of blowing snow. Snowpack: Widespread collapsing and shooting cracks on everything with old snow at the base, mostly just while skinning and no stomping required. Went to a few frequent flier slopes BTL that rumbled and shattered but didn’t move. NTL suspect slopes produced a mix of shattering but staying put and shattering and releasing. On southerly aspects lacking old snow layers, we saw no evidence of slab instabilities except some cracking in the storm snow near wind drifted terrain. Sheltered terrain sluffed readily in the top 12″ of snow.
Photos:
A suspect BTL slope that rumbled and cracked across the entire slope (about 400 feet wide), but didn’t move.
Let’s try a suspect NTL slope. Still just slumping.
Here we go! Remote triggered D2 in First Bowl from 100 ft away
It looks like it sympathetically triggered this one in Birthday Bowl.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D2 – could bury, injure, or kill a person Avg. crown height (inches): 30 Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Additional comments: First Bowl. 6″ of fluff on the bedsurface, so they definitely ran this morning.
Relative Size: R2 small Destructive Size: D2 – could bury, injure, or kill a person Avg. crown height (inches): 36 Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Additional comments: FIrst bowl. Triggered from ~100 ft away.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D2 – could bury, injure, or kill a person Avg. crown height (inches): 32 Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Additional comments: Appeared to release sympathetically with the remotely triggered First Bowl slide, which was about 300 ft away.
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:
Additional comments: Large enough to bury in a terrain trap.
