Recent action from West Brush

Date of Observation: 12/17/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled out West Brush and skied on the southwest side of Teocalli up to 12,200′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of recent slab avalanches up to D2 in size on the eastern half of the compass. There’s been so much wind in this area that crowns are a bit harder to decipher (wind slab vs. persistent slab) and put an age on it. I’m only documenting the slides that look to have fairly recent debris; there were a few others that are either older or just blown in now.
Weather: Cold temps this morning, pleasant this afternoon in the sun. Calm winds.
Snowpack: We noted two collapses while snowmobiling in the flats at valley bottom, radiating about 30 to 50 feet. Slabs there are about 18″, soft and faceting. On southwest terrain, there were no persistent slab concerns: now from the past few weeks is shallow and faceting now (1-2mm), capped by various thin melt freeze or wind crusts in some areas, without any underlying old snow. There were a few cross-loaded gullies where we managed for recent shallow drifts (both hard and soft), but they were unreactive to our ski cuts in steep terrain. Winds did a number on the alpine in this area; some of the problematic terrain is heavily eroded now, other terrain saw loading. Surfaces N/ATL are all worked by the wind.