Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 04/08/2018
Name: Evan Ross
Subject: And The Avalanches Rained Down!
Aspect: North, East, South, West
Elevation: 9,000-11,500ft
Avalanches:
The Wet Slab cycle between 10,000ft and 10,600ft on northerly and easterly aspects was really impressive in the Slate River Valley! Mostly D2 to D2.5’s. See photos below. Clouds obscured visibility for details or pictures of other avalanches on: The South Face of Purple Mountain, South Face of Mineral Point, North Face of Schuylkill Mountain and a D2 slab in Red Lady Bowl. Other large avalanches were reported in different observations.
Weather: A beautiful break in the clouds late morning turned mostly cloudy through the mid-day and decreased again in the later afternoon. Winds were cooking along with snow plums on the big peaks near and above 12,000ft. Mid-day snow showers accumulated about 2″ of snow at 11,000ft between Noon and 3pm.
Snowpack: Pushed hard with a snowmobile on a number of steep terrain features with no sings to instability. The caveat would be that these terrain features were relatively small in the big picture and generally supported by the terrain below. Hand and formal stability tests also showed a decent bond between the new/old snow interface.. At 11,500ft total snow accumulations for the weekend were about 17 thick inches. Those numbers tapered off quickly below 11,000ft as you got below the rain line. There were some big puddles of water sitting on the snowpack in valley bottom and water in the creaks was definitely up.
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- Loose wet and wet slab avalanches in the Happy Chutes. Northeasterly facing below treeline terrain.
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- Climax mad house of wet slab avalanches. Up to D2.5. Numerous crowns between 9,400ft and 11,000ft
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- Climax mad house of wet slab avalanches. Up to D2.5. Numerous crowns between 9,400ft and 11,000ft
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- Climax mad house of wet slab avalanches. Up to D2.5. Numerous crowns between 9,400ft and 11,000ft
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- Impressively wide propagating wet slab avalanche near Pittsburg in the Slate River Valley. Northeasterly aspect with various crowns between 10,700ft and 9,400ft. 4/8.
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- Loose Wet avalanche stepping down to a bigger slab avalanche on a northeasterly terrain feature at 11,000ft
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- Impressively wide propagating wet slab avalanche near Pittsburg in the Slate River Valley. Northeasterly aspect with various crowns between 10,700ft and 9,400ft.
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- 17″ of new snow down to the old snow interface at 11,500ft. Getting moist and thick on sunny slopes.
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- 33 degree northerly facing slope at 11,200ft. 1/6 interface was down 50cm with facets below the soft crust. This was the most concerning structure in the pit. A 5cm layer of wet snow was down 30cm. Both of these interfaces produced ECTN results.
