Not happy about southerlies

Date of Observation: 02/03/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Toured on southerly and northerly aspects from Scarp Ridge to Schuylkill Ridge through Peeler and OBJ basins.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several small wet loose avalanches and a pair of soft slabs (~D1.5) on steep, sunbaked slopes that all appeared fresh in the past day or so, best guess is yesterday afternoon, based on the pattern of rollerballs associated with the slides. Also documented a handful of large slabs that ran during the last storm.
Weather: Strong inversion. Warm temps and strong sunshine on sunny slopes, just a few thin clouds. Calm winds.
Snowpack: Today’s goal was to cover ground and test a number of suspect slopes near and above treeline. Unfortunately, we are still getting consistent propagating results on the buried near surface facets and faceted crusts about two feet deep on all south and southeast slopes that we tested near treeline. These typically failed after additional loading steps (30 to 35 taps). I got non-propagating fractures on two pits on northerly aspects; one targeting a heavily drifted terrain feature above treeline adjacent to a large crown from the last storm (the slab was pencil hard). The other was a moderately drifted slope near treeline, 4F slab. I did not experience signs of instability underfoot except some rollerballs and pinwheels on sunny aspects.