Date of Observation: 12/23/2022
Name: Harry Von Longshank
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured from 9200′ to around 11,400′ in the SW end of the SE forecast zone. Traveled on mainly easterly aspects all day.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Well, as this particular area is relatively shallow, most of the observed avalanches occurred on leeward features on E/SE aspects which were loaded during the recent wind event (surprise, surprise). A couple crowns were still fairly sharp and easily visible from a distance, which leads me to believe most of them ran towards the end of the wind-loading. Most appeared to have only been the wind slabs failing somewhere mid-snowpack but I did observe one on a very sparce and rocky N aspect ATL which failed to ground and seemed to have carried virtually all the available snow about 800′ down into the basin.
Weather: Pleasant. Light winds at best and mostly sunny. Temps probably somewhere in the high teens and low 20s.
Snowpack: 40cm down low, ramping up to around 100cm at higher elevations in protected areas. Wind stiffened and slightly textured in the open. Ski pen was roughly boot top all the way up. It was talkative in open meadows and clearings in the trees. I was able to get some surprisingly loud rumbling collapses traveling through most low angle, open terrain.
