Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge to 12,200′. Easterly and northerly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous small wet loose avalanches ran at all elevations, predominantly on east and southeast aspects this morning (D1s). A few reached around to NE aspects BTL. These all ran on the dust/crust layer. We skier triggered a couple of similar avalanches and observed other skier triggered slides as well. Skier triggered one hot wind slab that entrained wet loose snow on a crossloaded gulley below treeline (D1).
Weather: Light ridgetop winds, minor transport. Clear skies. Springlike temps.
Snowpack: Settled storm snow depths ranged from 4″ to 8″, notably redistributed by wind in this area.
Targeted a few windloaded test slopes and could only get localized cracking with no releases, until we got one wind slab to pop later in the day in a steep chute. Drifts were up to 2 feet thick below large fetches, but the cracking was occurring on a mid-storm layer about 6″ to 8″ deep.
Mid to high northerlies stayed dry, with wet loose activity beginning mid-morning on easterlies. The 4/14 interface stayed frozen and supportive to ski pen through midday.

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Slate River Road and Purple Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Schuylkill Ridge saw a wind slab cycle (averaging D1.5) on crossloaded terrain from Northwest winds yesterday. Several other soft slabs above treeline ran during or after the storm yesterday.

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more previously undocumented wet slabs. These ran sometime after Evan was in the area mid-day on 4/12, so likely the afternoon of 4/12 or sometime 4/13.

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell Green Lake Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2 cornice fall above Green Lake, likely yesterday or today.

Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons on various aspects to 12200′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of thin soft slabs and wet loose avalanches involving the new snow ran naturally or were triggered today (D1s). Most of the slabs were in wind-affected terrain, but at least one broke more like a storm slab.
Weather: Scattered cloud cover cleared by early afternoon. The alpine felt cold and wintery; moderate to strong northwest winds with periods blowing snow. Below treeline felt mild and springlike.
Snowpack: Storm totals increased from a few inches near valley floor up to 10″ above treeline. The snow appeared to be bonding well on most undrifted slopes, but I popped a shallow slab on a rollover below treeline that broke near the storm interface. Drifts averaged about a foot deep and were up to 2′ thick in heavily drifted areas. I produced localized cracking up to 5′ in drifts. I didn’t see any natural wet loose activity today but it was becoming easy to trigger at low elevations by about 1 p.m., involving the top 4″ of wetting snow over the dust/crust. Near the valley floor, that crust was breaking down this afternoon and ski pen was knee-deep on a few slopes.

Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Bear Claw

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: NE 11,000ft. A wet avalanche that gouged deeply and accumulated additional snow. Large debris pile in the apron below and not visible in the photo. Hard to tell if this avalanche was a wet loose, wet slab, or maybe started by a small cornice chunk.

Date of Observation: 04/13/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy. NW and S.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: I didn’t notice any new avalanche activity.

Weather: Cloud cover was partly cloudy through mid-day and then increased through the afternoon. Moderate winds at upper elevations.

Snowpack: Snow surfaces were frozen and supportable near the trailhead.

Skied NW into the P-Divide bowl and didn’t leave any tracks. Realized the no tracks thing could be a fun game during times like these. The snow surface was a thin supportable crust over dry snow.

Skied the South Bowl of Baldy around 1 pm. The crust wasn’t supportable off the top and ski pin was dropping into the wet mushy snow below. This was in part because of the below-average snowpack depth that exists in the top 1/4 of the bowl. We traveled skier left where the snow surface was supportable but I could still plunge my pole into the wet snow below. The snowpack was stronger in the runout either from the old avalanche debris or the increased snowpack depth.

The snowpack was supportable on the route back to the trailhead.

Quote from Than: “Remember, If it snows tonight, we get to claim that we skied the dirtiest day of the season… so far.”

Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate, Purple Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More of the same. Mostly loose wet avalanches with some gouging deeply into the snowpack.

Weather: A little bit of everything. Cloud cover was alternating between partly cloudy and mostly cloudy. Some convective pulses pushed through and even a little rain.

Snowpack: The snowpack stayed supportive to boots through mid-day, then things felt like they were starting to deteriorate more quickly on my way home. Skiing was lovely, often grabby, and slow, and I even got chased by a pack of brown roller balls to keep it interesting. Was out to gather some equipment and didn’t tango with much avalanche terrain.

Dug into a 30-degree NE-facing slope at 10,800ft. The wetting front had made it about 40cm’s deep. It was just hitting an interface at this location. CTN in the upper snowpack. Loose wet avalanches looked like the primary hazard in this location.

Date of Observation: 04/11/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Kebler Pass Road

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More large wet avalanches likely ran today or yesterday. And an older dry slab(!!!) triggered by cornice fall. See photos.