Date of Observation: 01/31/2021
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Kebler Pass

Avalanches: Widespread natural avalanche cycle, primarily on E to SE to S facing slopes at all elevations. Could easily count up 20 to 30 avalanches, but probably more. Elk Basin had 4 or 5 D2’s. Numerous large slab avalanches in the Ruby/Owen/Purple group. Numerous natural small to large slab avalanches in the NTL/BTL elevations below Ruby/Owen/Purple. The Dyke area had plenty of large slab avalanche carnage at all elevations. Some old crowns from yesterday, and plenty of sharp fresh crowns from early this morning or today. We were not planing in much for avalanche terrain, but still remote triggered at least one 2ft deep slab avalanche. Saw several other human triggered slab avalanches as well, all failing 1.5 to 3 feet deep.

My camera failed today, sadly. So this is really just a quick ob to document that the avalanche cycle reported in other drainages, also occurred in the Kebler Pass Area.

Date of Observation: 01/31/2021
Name: Zach Kinler, Jared Berman
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Purple Ridge

Aspect: North East, East, South East, South, South West, West

Elevation: 9,600′-11,800′

Avalanches: In addition to the many large persistent slab and wet loose snow avalanches already reported, we observed several wet loose on aspects from SE-S-W in the D1-D1.5 size range. All initiating from steep and often rocky areas near and above treeline midday. Of note was a large persistent slab avalanche and several small persistent slabs that ran midday on Schuylkill Ridge, closer to the peak on a near treeline terrain feature that wraps just south of East in aspect. Looks to have initiated from smaller wet loose snow avalanches as temps warmed.

Weather: Cold start with valleys near or below zero. Temps warmed quickly with abundant sunshine and 11K highs climbing above freezing. Strong solar with no wind, even on ridge top. One of the calmest days I can remember.

Snowpack: HST at valley bottom around 11 inches with up to 16 inches around 11K. HS in this area was 130 cm around 10,500′ and 150 cm and greater moving above 11K. No cracking or collapsing was observed in sheltered areas and a snowpit on East at 10,600′ revealed hard propagating results x1 and non-propagating results x1 on the 1/19 interface. The 12/10 interface was about 100 cm deep and showing signs of rounding but still weak at 4F hard(ECTX). Minimal obs from drifted slopes as we avoided those. Recent snow was warming rapidly on aspects from SE-S-W with moist snow on the surface. East aspects had settled into creamy pow with generally dry surfaces.

Date of Observation: 01/31/2021
Name: Sam Eller

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Elkton Hills
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 11,200

Avalanches: Large persistent slab avalanches off Belleview mountain. Small wind slabs stepped down to deeper layers as the sun warmed those solar aspects. Possible glide avalanche in the paradise basin. Lots of point release on any exposed rock in the afternoon.
Weather: Warm and bluebird.
Snowpack: Creamy, hot pow.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 01/31/2021
Name: Brett Henderson

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: East side of Mt. Bellview
Aspect: East

Avalanches: Also saw multiple avalanches on the north side of Gothic

Photos:

Date of Observation: 01/31/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location:
Aspect: South West, West
Elevation: 10500-11500

Avalanches: Observed several slides on Mineral Point and ridge between Augusta and Richmond. Both appeared to occur during the storm and did not step down into older layers
Weather: Calm and warm
Snowpack: No signs of instability during our tour.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 01/31/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Kebler Pass BTL
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,500

Avalanches: Skier triggered R4 D1.5. Released near the top of the slope in the middle of the convexity and propagated across most of the face.
Weather: Sunny and clear skies. Around 10am.
Snowpack: My best guess is it was storm slab that failed on the mid January facet layer. The debris was still fairly soft but deep enough to catch and bury a skier.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 01/30/2021
Name: Steve Banks

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Anthracite Range
Aspect: North West
Elevation: 9,800-11,000

Avalanches: No new avalanches observed. Poor vis ATL limited obs.
Weather: Snowing this morning (S2) and tapering through the middle of the day. Couple well timed sunny breaks. Temps in the 20’s and minimal winds. Snow came back after 4 pm with overnight snowfall 4-6” and 1-2” through the day.
Snowpack: Still weak! Average snowpack depth (HS) 135 cm and a ski pole easily passed through all of it. There is a 4F-4F+ slab over the January dry spell facet layer. Multiple collapses and cracks on slopes up to 35* though no releases. Some cracks went all the way to the November weak layer.

Date of Observation: 01/30/2021
Name: Jake Scott

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Right next to the road on splain’s gulch, at the bottom of the first open east facing pitch.
Aspect: East
Elevation: 9900

Avalanches: One small slide remotely triggered on a east facing slope. A couple steps into walking up this slope my partner triggered this slide from about 20 feet away. It was very quiet I didn’t hear anything move at the time. One crack extended from the crown back toward the trigger point. The bed surface was a convex roll with some exposed rock.
Weather: Waves of heavy snowfall, on and off, with some moments of sunshine.
Snowpack: Soft and unsupportive

Photos:

Date of Observation: 01/30/2021

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Small steep slope above seven bowl & skin track
Aspect: North East
Elevation: 10,550

Avalanches: A member of our group triggered a small slide (D1) in a steep area above seven bowl that has not seen much traffic. The slope was a NE aspect, the crown seemed to fracture on the 12/10 interface.
Human factors:
Our group got a bit spread out looking for fresh turns, a couple members that did not know the area well ended up in a steep area above seven bowl and triggered a small slide that ran into trees.
Weather: Temp: mid 20’s
Sky: partly cloudy
wind: light
Precipitation: periods of light snow
Snowpack: Did not see any signs of instability throughout our tour.

Photos: