Date of Observation: 04/08/2023
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Mount Baldy’s sunny side.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Decent views into the Ruby Range did not reveal any new cornice falls.
Weather: Increasing cloudiness late morning turned to sporadic snow showers midday. Mild temperatures and moderate SW wind in the afternoon at ridgetop.
Snowpack: Cloudiness limited the Wet Loose avalanche concerns in the area I traveled. Surface crusts softened but didn’t break down during the day. I dug a couple of test profiles looking at east and southeast features – the snowpack generally looks strong in the upper snowpack given the number of crusts and ice columns from recent warm weather. Faceting above a late March crust, on two different slopes (E and SE), appears to be a potential failure plane if flooded by meltwater. Northeasterly slopes below treeline have several soft crusts, with dry snow between, in the upper 18 inches of the snowpack that could be available for entrainment once the water production resumes in the coming days.
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- The strong, intact surface crusts would easily insulate the weight of a person from impacting the interface which produced the propagating result. As warmer weather begins breaking down surface crusts and producing more meltwater this structure could become more concerning but overall the upper snowpack appears relatively strong.
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- This easterly slope has a very similar structure to the other southeasterly site. It would take a lot of meltwater and/or a very large trigger, like a cornice failure, to produce a slab avalanche on this slope.
