Date of Observation: 03/01/2022
Name: Ben Pritchett Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Keberl Pass corridor to snowbike avalanche slope near the Y and Red Lady Bowl in the afternoon
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Inspected the previously reported avalanches near they Y and in Red Lady Bowl.
Weather: Ridgeline Wind Speed: Calm
Wind Loading: None
Temperature: 50 F
Sky Cover: Clear
Weather Description: Very warm day, full sun, no wind.
Snowpack: We found 1-finger hard slabs resting on Fist-hard facets. The slabs were soft on top, stiffer at the bottom, with an obvious dirt stripe above the faceted weak layer.
At a northwest-facing crown profile above a snowbike-triggered avalanche from Sunday, we found a reactive, dry snowpack. ECTP 14 on the dry-spell weak layer.
Traveling through sunny, southerly-facing terrain on Mt. Emmons, we experienced many dozen collapses with long-running (100’s of feet) cracks. Meltwater reached the dry-spell facets and created unstable conditions.
A profile on the flank of a large skier-triggered avalanche in Red Lady Bowl showed the meltwater reached the weak layer yesterday. Water wicked through the low-porosity facets. Today, meltwater reached another 10 to 12 inches below the facets into the upper part of the Holiday Slab.
-
- A snowbike-triggered avalanche the ran on February 28, 2022 near Kebler Pass on a northwest-facing slope around 10,100′
-
- The avalanche released around two feet deep on a very weak layer of buried facets beneath the most recent storm snow
-
- A profile on the steepest portion of the flank of the avalanche. We dug into a crack that radiated out from the avalanche along the eastern flank, which clearly showed the weak layer.
-
- Looking up a Wet Slab avalanche on an alpine southeast-facing slope. The avalanche released between 10 and 30 minutes after a skier skied the slope. Many of the tracks in the left of the image were placed around the time of this avalanche. Photo March 1, 2022
-
- Looking down the avalanche in Red Lady Bowl. The debris showed signs of meltwater mixed with the debris. Photo March 1, 2022
-
- Verglas formed on the bed surface of this avalanche
-
- Southerly-facing slopes became very wet. Rills formed in the snow surface on March 1. We experienced dozens of collapses with long-running cracks on every open slope we travelled upon.
-
- Southerly-facing slopes became very wet. Rills formed in the snow surface on March 1. We experienced dozens of collapses with long-running cracks on every open slope we travelled upon.
