Date of Observation: 01/10/2023
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite skin track and a few of the typical runs there
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: It was hard to tell how old some of these crowns were, as snowfall and wind were refilling things fast.
East Bowl crown that looked to have propagated a few hundred feet, ending at skier’s right of Friendly Finish, ~D2
Crown about 50 feet wide on steep North facing terrain in the playground area, NTL, ~D2; visible right across the basin from the usual transition spot at the top of most the commonly skied runs at AMR
Pretty wide crown below Ohio sub-peak/Moose’s Tooth(?), maybe a few hundred feet, East facing ATL, ~D2
(topo attached shows drawn solid red lines for obvious crowns, drawn dashed red lines for crowns harder to see clearly)
Weather: Snowing all day, ranging from light to heavy; occasional ridgetop gusts NTL around 20 mph; also noted graupel-like snow for a good portion of the day
Snowpack: Snow total measured 240 cm in our pit. Top meter of snow ramped up from Fist hardness storm snow for about 10 inches to 1F hardness by the bottom of the meter mark, with no obvious weak layers identified. ECTN, small crack at new/old snow interface, and another about 70 cm down.
On windloaded slopes NTL, new snow was consolidating over the course of the day, with our final observations revealing spots of 4F hardness.
Photos: