Date of Observation: 03/20/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skykill Ridge, Near OBJ. 9,000ft to 11,300ft. NE-E-S
Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: S-1 most of the afternoon. Starting to pick up in the later afternoon as we were headed out. Calm wind.
Snowpack: Great skiing on NE with some sluffing in steep terrain. The crusts at the old snow interface on East were breakable and not good skiing. Not enough snow yet, for any storm slab problems. The most notable weak layer was the 3/20 interface that was buried this morning. On E and SE it was about 2cm thick, collapsible into weak snow below, and ready to aid in propagation once there is enough load. On south, that crust was 6cm + thick and strong.
Targeted a test pit on a ENE slope at 9,700ft. Slope 34 degrees. HS 250cm. The 3/10 interface didn’t produce any ECT, CT or DT tests. The 3/15 crust and 3/20 NSF each produced ECTN results. The layer of concern at this location was the 3/20 NSF once there is a slab, and if something did step down to the 3/15 crust it wouldn’t be much deeper at this location.