Date of Observation: 02/24/2023
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River. 9,000ft to 11,000ft. NE-E,S.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None

Weather: Headed out after the morning pulse of wind and snow. Gained Ridgeline around 11am with moderate southwest winds. S-1 to S1 from 10am through mid-day. The snow and wind tapered out in the afternoon.

Snowpack: Traveled cautiously near bigger wind-loaded terrain features. Otherwise skied aggressively with no observed signs of instability. Density changes in the recent storm snow could be observed in small column tests and on wind-loaded test slopes. At 11,000ft a low 34-degree south-facing slope had thick crusts in the upper snowpack, under this past week’s recent snow accumulations.

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Irwin Cat-Ski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides cat-ski tenure.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: SS-AE-R2-D2-I FC (35cm x 40m x 100m)
SS-AE-R1-D1.5-I FC (35cm x 20m x 80m)
SS-AE-R1-D1.5-I FC (35cm x 20m x 60m)
SS-AE-R1-D1-I FC (25cm x 15m x 50m)
Weather:
Snowpack: “Triggered a couple size 2 avalanches out of our east terrain with explosives.”

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hwy 135 obs and tour up sunny side of Mount Emmons.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: While driving to town I got a glimpse of a few naturals in drifted terrain on Whetstone that appeared to only involve the storm snow. Slides pictured are from the Octagon zone (D1.5) and Barcelona Bowl (D2-ish). Brief glimpse of Main Bowl and Hidden Lake basin suggested more activity but the views were too brief to really see what happened.
On Emmons, I observed a few D1.5 naturals in the drifted terrain below the skinner near treeline but never was able to see the crowns below the cornice.
Weather: Cold temps were tolerable at the valley bottom and decreased to unpleasant levels above treeline. Winds above treeline were commonly light to moderate with an occasional strong gust. Snowfall was very light from 10 am to 3 pm, with less than an inch of accumulation. Some snow transport was observed midday loading into easterly terrain.
Snowpack: Storm totals ranged from 10 to 14 inches. In sheltered areas, I did not get any cracking in the storm snow and a test profile site from a northeast feature produced no propagating results in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack. Once I started to find drifted snow near and above treeline, I was able to reliably get cracks to shoot 10 feet but much less reactive than Wednesday. Stomping above and kicking cornices into drifted terrain did not produce any results.

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Dan Hohl

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Toured up skier’s R side of Raccoon Glades. Triggered two loud collapses at 11,100′ on a S facing slope. Dug down approximately 3′ to a near crust facet layer that is the likely culprit behind the failures.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Sam Lesnikoski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard anthracite’s skin track and ski runs

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: None observed
Weather: Cold. Light wind and snow through out the day tapering by afternoon
Snowpack: Surprisingly little wind effect, minimal ridge top loading. Storm snow was dense with no results in terrain over 35 degrees. Stomping on ridge top windrifts and convexities produced only minor cracking.

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Mt. Emmons, below treeline northerly terrain up to 10,900′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Overcast, light winds in the trees. Light snowfall, with about 3″ since yesterday, bringing settled storm totals up to about a foot.
Snowpack: Skier triggered a large, rumbling collapse that failed on weak facets about 3′ deep. The collapse and shooting cracks wrapped from N to NE aspects around 10,850′ and would have produced a dangerous persistent slab avalanche on a steeper slope. This terrain has seen a fair number of skiers in the past month, and we skinned across the top of it yesterday without any signs of instability.  I suspect this slope had a relatively shallow and weaker snowpack through January due to previous avalanche activity and/or wind erosion from northerly winds.  Minimal cracking in the storm snow today while riding in wind protected terrain.

Date of Observation: 02/23/2023
Name: Billy Barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic Townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Easily the biggest factor has been the wind, which has been steady around 8-15 mph SW with regular gusts to 25, while there has been substantial drifting and staying cloudy. The 24 hour new snow total is 7½” with water content a very windy-driven dense 0.72″. Currently cloudy though clouds are showing a little ‘sunrise’ breaking here and there with wind holding steady but a bit lighter at times. The snowpack is at 65½” deep and currently no snow for the past couple hours. I believe there is a chance for clear mild weather come June.

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Eric Murrow Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Standard Schuylkill Ridge up track from OBJ. 9,000ft to 10,500ft. Primarily NE-E

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a small 12″ storm slab on a NE facing slope below treeline. Skier triggered a couple of small wind slabs on SE and NE near treeline.

Weather: Started out with a blizzard. Then it got kind of nice for an hour. Then the blowing snow became intense and exfoliating as the sun temporarily poked through to say hi. Roller Coaster

Snowpack: New snow was in the 10 to 12″ range. Shortly after the morning blizzard the top couple of inches was reactive as a storm slab and produced some very small natural avalanches BTL. By the time we got into steep terrain those storm slabs had already become less reactive. Nearing ridgeline we started managing and triggering wind slabs. The blowing snow was intense. We triggered another 12″ storm slab on the descent.

Date of Observation: 02/22/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon rec tour on Mount Emmons, generally NE aspects to 11,300′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A pair of natural wind slabs ran today in two of the Climax Chutes, debris ran to the chokes, about 1900′ vert in at least one of them. Couldn’t see the other. Skier triggered a thin storm slab on a steep, sheltered terrain feature, about 6″ thick. Also triggered a sluff that gouged about 18″ deep to the ground through weak facets on a slope that avalanched in January and has since remained shallow and rotting.
Weather: Unpleasant. Significant blowing snow at all elevations, from the southwest where we were. Heavy snowfall around noon fizzled to nil this afternoon. Decreasing temperature trend and some periods of visibility this afternoon after the cold front.
Snowpack: 8″ to 10″ of new snow. There was a mid-storm density change that produced localized cracking in sheltered terrain, and longer shooting cracks in leeward terrain, where drifts were up to 18″ thick where we traveled. There were drifts near ridgeline and near valley bottom.