Date of Observation: 01/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on westerly below treeline terrain near Pittsburg.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Saw a couple of storm slabs that likely ran yesterday or last night on a cut bank above the Slate. Limited vis, but I could see that there were no valley crushers off of Schuylkill Ridge which was nice.
Weather: Storming hard. Moderate to heavy snowfall throughout the day with gusty northwest winds blowing snow down valley and off trees.
Snowpack: Storm totals near Pittsburg are 50 cm and the snowpack is ~200 cm. No signs of instability underfoot traveling on mellow slope angles. On a west aspect, we tested the 12/20 and 11/28 layers using modified deep-tap ECTs. 11/28 produced a propagating fracture under a 170 cm slab. The layer is 3-4 mm depth hoar. The 12/20 interface is 1-1.5mm rounding facets, and did not propagate fractures.
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- Snow depth is about 6 feet in Pittsburg
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- Still potential for failures on weak snow at the ground.
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- One of a couple of storm slabs that ran at some point during the storm above the Slate.
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- This is an older persistent slab close to OBJ campground. Not exactly sure when it ran, maybe 1/6.
