Date of Observation: 10/27/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Emerald Bowl. Traveled on E and NE aspects to 11,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A natural cycle of avalanches, D1 to D2 in size, came off of Baldy’s Emerald Bowl sometime in the past 12 hours. Likely wind slabs, although the start zones were already blown smooth again. Also a small windslab ran today on Bellview.
Weather: Cold and blustery. Moderate to strong northwest winds were actively transporting snow all day at all elevations. Mostly cloudy skies with a few light snow showers.
Snowpack: Several red flags pointed towards dangerous conditions at upper elevations today: fresh naturals, active windloading, storm totals approaching 12″, and shooting cracks in wind drifted slopes. Drifts were generally 2 to 3′ thick, up to 4F hard. In windsheltered(ish) terrain, I did not see evidence of storm slab instabilities; no cracking, and no unstable test results. The 8″ to 12″ of storm snow was fist hard, right-side-up on top of fist hard, 1mm facets (NE aspects) or crust/facet sandwiches or just homogenous crusts (East aspects).

Date of Observation: 10/24/2021
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Snow went all night with generally light snowfall but dense with 4″ new and 0.37″ water. The snowpack is 4″ deep. Cloudy and very warm with the overnight low 30F, which is the current. Wind picked up around 6:45 but snow has seemed to stop.

Date of Observation: 10/22/2021
Name: Zach Guy and Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Paradise Divide, generally traveling on N and NW aspects near and above treeline.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A small wet loose avalanche from recent warm temps.
Weather: Mild temps, thin scattered cloud cover. Light winds and no blowing snow.
Snowpack:  This snow surface will be a future weak layer. In the Northwest Mountains, continuous snow coverage has survived on the northern half of the compass on most near and above treeline slopes, with thinner coverage below treeline. In the Southeast Mountains, coverage is also thinner with more ground roughness breaking up the continuity. The photos below exemplify current coverage. Near and above treeline, we found the snowpack has faceted throughout on shady aspects: 1 mm F to F+ facets. Snow depth on shady aspects is about 10″ on average, with drifted areas up to 2 feet deep. The snowpack structure is entirely faceting on due north, with one or several thin crusts near the surface on NE and NW aspects. The snowpack transitions towards a homogenous layer of melt-freeze grains on west aspects. On southern aspects, coverage is spotty on all but the most snow-favored peaks in the Ruby Range.