Date of Observation: 11/24/2021
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Eastern side of Schuylkill Peak from Poverty Gulch

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Limited visibility during the tour but nearby there were several very small, natural loose avalanches in the storm snow on north and northeast aspects starting from cliffy/rocky areas. None gained enough mass to gauge into the snowpack. Later in the day, once skies clear around 4pm, I went for a pavement tour looking for avalanche activity in the Ruby Range and didn’t see any significant activity, just a few more small Loose Dry avalanches.
Weather: Cloudy skies in the morning with light snowfall slowly transitioned to partly cloudy skies by the PM. Winds were light throughout the tour even on ridgetop at 11,700 feet. New snow accumulations reached about 7 inches at 11,700 feet; valley bottom at 9,300′ was only about 3 inches.
Snowpack: We traveled on north, northeast, and east aspects to treeline. In general, the snowpack continues to facet and lose strength. Snow depths were commonly around 60 to 90 cm with boot penetration very close to the ground. Grain size in the old snow is commonly 1.5 to 2mm in size. We went hunting for fresh slab formation on a leeward, northeast-facing slope at 11,700′ and basically found a weak, faceted snowpack with 7 inches of new snow resting on the junk. No evidence of drifting, or Wind Slab formation on the tour. While driving around just before sunset, I was able to spot some fresh cornice formation above treeline on east and southeast-facing ridgelines.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 11/22/2021
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge. NE-E, 9,500-12,000ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Beautiful day. Calm wind, lots of sun, warm temps. Feels like we are headed into spring.
Snowpack: Ooo snowpack. The skiing is still lovely, but the sun, wind and dry weather are not being kind to what snowpack there is. On a couple east and north facing bowls above treeline, the ski tracks from yesterday that were around 12″ deep, were now raised to the surface of the snow. Those sneaky winds have already been redistributing the recent fresh snow. The sun was creating a moist snow surface on the easterly slopes we traveled and on some northeasterly slopes below treeline. The snowpack structure at the moment can be simplified to just weak. Facets, crusts, plenty of junk.

Pushed on some fresh wind drifts near treeline with no results. No other avalanche concerns observed.

Date of Observation: 11/21/2021
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Paradise Divide. NW to N around 11,600ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Just a few small sluffs and soft slabs that ran above treeline on steep slopes having received some wind-loading
Weather: Clear and calm.
Snowpack: Call it around 5″ of new snow that skied deeper thanks to our weakening snowpack. The new snow was very cold and lacked any cohesion where we traveled. Comparing conditions today versus traveling in the same area a couple weeks ago, any support in the snowpack back then is now turning into the sand box effect. Defiantly weak out there and we didn’t encounter much of any slab on this short afternoon tour.

The predominant wind-loading patter from the last storm appeared to be from the northerly winds at the end of that storm.

Date of Observation: 11/20/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Schofield Pass area, traveled on E and NE aspects to 12,200 ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a shallow but long-running sluff in the new snow.
Weather: Light winds, light snowfall. Snowfall rates started increasing as we left around 4 p.m.
Snowpack: 2″ to 3″ of new snow. No signs of instability while traveling in steep terrain. In windsheltered terrain, the snowpack is now completely faceted throughout with ski pen close to the ground. Facets are 1mm in size near the surface and up to 2mm near the ground, generally fist hard to fist+ hard. In windier locations this structure is capped by a stiff wind crust of varying thickness; on easterly aspects, capped by a thin melt-freeze crust. We tested an isolated old drift NTL and got hard, non-propagating results below a 15″ hard slab.

Date of Observation: 11/19/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Biked out to the end of West Brush Creek Road to document snow coverage

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Overcast, a few snowflakes fell.
Snowpack: It would be very hard to find a slope with enough snow to produce an avalanche in this area. Maybe a small drift in the alpine. Below treeline, there is sufficient coverage on northwest to northeast aspects for fairly continuous weak layer formation. Other aspects are generally too patchy or bare. Above and some near treeline slopes have continuous coverage on east aspects and some windloaded southeast features as well.

Date of Observation: 11/16/2021
Name: Zach Guy and Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Redwell Basin. Traveled on northerly aspects to 12,000 ft.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Conducted a crown profile of a previously reported slab avalanche in Redwell Basin. The avalanche broke as a hard slab on 2mm facets near the ground, up to 5 ft deep on a windloaded bowl below a cliff band. We measured debris piles up to 9 feet deep. See photos.
Weather: Few clouds increased to overcast. Moderate swirling winds in the basin with strong gusts and periods of blowing snow. A short pulse of light snowfall passed this afternoon.
Snowpack: Below 10,000 feet, the snowpack is moist and less than 6″ deep. Above that, the snowpack transitioned to unsupportive facets, 1 to 2.5 mm in size, generally fist hard, and less than 2 feet deep. In short, it’s a rotten, sugary mess that will be a serious weak layer issue in the future. Previously wind loaded terrain is the only place where we could find any kind of slab. We experienced a couple of shallow, localized collapses in a wind drifted ravine. Otherwise, we traveled in weaker, trapdoor snow with no signs of instability, just dodging sharky rocks.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 11/15/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Peeler and Oh-Be-Joyful Basin. Traveled on a variety of aspects from 10,000 to 12,000 ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing new except a few harmless wet loose sluffs from the last couple days on steep southerlies. Noted a few more previously undocumented D1.5 to D2 sized naturals that ran during last week’s cycle.
Weather: Warm, clear skies, light winds.
Snowpack: No signs of instability. A couple of stability tests on east aspects produced non-propagating results on the Nov 9 crust/facet layer, down 14″ to 18″. This layer appears to be gaining strength compared to pits in similar locations last week. Total snow depths near and above treeline average 3 to 4 feet on shady aspects, and a foot or less on sunny aspects. Snow surfaces vary widely, from hard wind board and sastrugi on wind-affected slopes, wet grains on SE to SW aspects, and surface hoar and/or near surface facets in wind-protected, shady cirques.

Date of Observation: 11/12/2021
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: This observation was texted to CBAC from a group that was on top of Schuylkill Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Recent avalanche in Redwell Basin on Mount Emmons.  Northeast aspect above treeline.

Weather:
Snowpack:

Date of Observation: 11/12/2021
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Poverty Gulch underneath sunny side of Mineral Point over towards Angel Pass

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Observed one recent natural avalanche below the summit of Augusta. Big enough to carry but not bury a person.
Weather: Strong winds in the morning relentlessly transported and stiffened snow near and above treeline. Winds subdued some in the afternoon. East and southeast aspects appeared to receive the most continued loading.
Snowpack: We ascended terrain facing southeast through east through northeast to 11,900′. Storm totals reached up to ~18″ near treeline (hard to measure as all terrain traveled was open and heavily affected by the wind). Dug a test profile on a drifted southeast feature at 11,000 feet with 3 feet of drifted snow resting on a melt/freeze crust without any result. A test profile on a north feature at 11,900′ showed moderate propagating results at the new/old interface which consisted of 1mm facets (see image). The slab was around 50cm thick and 4finger hard. Immediately following the test profile the slope collapsed as we walked away.  These test results and signs of instability steered us towards safer, lower angled options.

We moved through many drifted features that faced east and southeast looking for Wind Slab formation and found two locations that shot cracks up to 75 feet. The most reactive places were generally the stiffest and most supportive drifts.

Photos:

Date of Observation: 11/12/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on south to east to northeast aspects on Owen to 12,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of small wind slabs ran today on east aspects above treeline, breaking in just today’s drifted snow. Several large slab avalanches ran off of NE and E aspects of Mt. Owen during the midweek storm. These all appeared to fail on or near the storm interface, about 18″ to 24″ deep. Some of these failed across terrain and in locations that aren’t typical for wind slabs…hinting at our developing persistent slab problem. See photos.
Weather: Strong northwest winds and active blowing snow this morning at all elevations. Winds transport died down this afternoon as scattered clouds developed. No recent precip.
Snowpack: We measured settled storm totals from the midweek storm up to 20″ in sheltered terrain. Significant fresh drifting occurred last night, with new 4F drifts up to 18″ thick. Snow depths on easterly aspects were 4 to 5 feet. We did not observe any signs of instability underfoot apart from some minor localized cracking in fresh drifts. A stability test on an east aspect ATL produced moderate propagating results below a 20″ soft slab, failing in 1mm facets below the 11/9 melt-freeze crust (See photo).