Date of Observation: 05/17/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Peak, traveled on southerly and easterly aspects to 12,600′
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: The bulk of recent avalanches have been D1-1.5 wet loose on northerly aspects N/ATL, where the snow is still in a transitional phase.
Weather: Scarp Ridge (@12k) had a minimum temp of 37 last night under clear skies. Mountain temps rose to the mid 40’s to mid 50’s, with partly cloudy skies developing by mid day. Calm winds where we traveled.
Snowpack: About 5″ refreeze which was just enough for mostly supportive boot pen and supportive ski pen before sunrise. Good corn around 8:30 a.m. on easterly aspects. Once crusts broke down later in the morning, ski pen became trapdoor near rocky areas and trees. It was easy to trigger small wet loose avalanches, but they didn’t gain volume; just ran slowly down existing runnels. Cornices are still big and saggy looking; we chose routes that avoided being underneath them given the warm day.
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- Recent wet loose activity on northeasterly aspects of Owen and Purple. Sorry for the blurry photo.
