Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Mountain
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Adding a few previously undocumented D3 to D4 sized avalanches from the 12/31 cycle or earlier. North to east aspects of Gothic.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baldy above Schofield Pass
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several destructive avalanches from 12/31 cycle, generally D3 to D4, on east to northeast aspects.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Creek and some Raggeds Wilderness that drains into North Anthracite Creek.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few large to very large avalanches above Middle and North Anthracite Creeks. Not as much activity here, likely because most of the terrain is southerly in aspect.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Yule Pass (Purple, Treasury, Treasure, and Mt. Justice ridgeline)
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: This area seemed to be the bullseye for the most destructive slides of the cycle, generally D3 to D4 in size, most crowns looked crisp so they ran on 12/31. Impressive crown depths (up 12 to 15 feet) and some wild propagation across multiple start zones. Mostly on northerly and east aspects. A few of these are west of our forecast area, but they were significant enough to document here.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Middle Ruby Range (between Daisy Pass and Purple).
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous destructive avalanches from 12/31 cycle, generally D2.5 to D4, mostly on east to north aspects. Some of these were previously documented and coded on Jan 1, but I’m adding better photos to this ob. Plenty of evidence of smaller or older undocumented slides.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Ruby Range
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous destructive avalanches from 12/31 cycle, generally D3 to D4, mostly on east to north aspects. Some of these were previously documented and coded on Jan 1, but I’m adding better photos to this ob. Plenty of evidence of smaller or older undocumented slides.
Date of Observation: 01/02/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracite Range
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread activity from 12/31 cycle on northerly aspects, generally D3 to D3.5. The Budda Bowl slide reportedly destroyed a cabin in the Bracken Creek area. See photo. Also some smaller slides and older debris piles not coded.
Date of Observation: 01/03/2022
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch TH out to Baldy, ascended and descended south ridge.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Phew….lots. In broad terms, many large to very large avalanches near and above treeline on the north half of the compass (many of these avalanches will be documented in another ob tomorrow). Only spotted a single avalanche below treeline on east slope near Purple Palace.
Weather: Clear skies with cold temperatures at valley bottom, but pleasant temps in the 20s near treeline. Light WSW winds with moderate gusts. Observed some continued snow transport around the range.
Snowpack: I largely snowmobiled around checking on snow depths. In the lower reaches of Washington Gulch I found around 175cm and near treeline on Baldy 260cm. I dug a single, deep profile near treeline on a southeast slope that was bare dirt prior to December. Test results indicated reasonable bonding between Santa Storm and the early December snow although the overlying slab is harder than the snow at the ground. There was no melt/freeze crust present in this profile location.
Date of Observation: 01/03/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River to Mt. Richmond to check out a deep slab crown.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: 2 large wind slabs that looked fresh, likely ran sometime over the weekend, along with a number of small ones. Got good views of some of the previously documented slides on Schuykill and in Baxter, along with a few that ran during the storm that we haven’t noted yet. The debris piles below Schuykill Ridge are impressive, and they knocked over several mature trees. The slides off of Richmond and/or Bichmond also knocked over a handful of mature trees.
Weather: Cold, clear, a few short-lived moments of light snow transport from southwest winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability underfoot or machine on a mix of steep and low angle slopes. Small grained surface hoar is growing at low elevations.
I looked at the crown on the northeast face of Richmond. The crown ranged from 8 to 12 feet thick. It was pencil hard where I could reach it. It failed on a weak layer of 1.5 to 2.0 mm rounding facets (4F+), which was about 40 to 70 cm off of the ground. There was about a foot of snow on the bed surface so it must have run on 12/31.
Date of Observation: 01/03/2022
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Dog walk
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Previously unreported slide on the SE face of Avery with adjacent cornice fall. I also included a photo of the previously reported slide lower down on Gothic’s Spoon.
Weather: Bluebird, inversions are locked in tight with valley temps well below 0F.
Snowpack: Much deeper than a couple of weeks ago!
