Avalanches:
Weather: Skies were clear at 8am, but clouds increased to produce mostly cloudy skies by noon. Light SW winds at 11,700′ @ 11am.
Snowpack: 10-15cm refreeze on mid-elevation west-facing forested slopes was still supportable (no ski penetration) at 11am. HS 2m.

Previously wind-loaded snow on steep north and northeast aspects above treeline was still dry and “chalky.” Snowpack tests on the mostly pencil-hard upper snowpack produced no results (ECTX on 40* slope, NE aspect @ 11,700′). Snow on northerly aspects near and below treeline was still supportable (10cm ski pen) at noon, but the crust was only ~5cm thick with moist snow below it for at least 60cm. HS 2m

Avalanches: Observed active natural cornice fall off E-Facing ridge line above Long Lake. Numerous other large cornice failures along same E-Facing ridgeline, some triggering size 2 LW over last few days.
Weather: Increasing clouds throughout morning and rapid warming between 8-10am. Calm to very light west breeze at ridgetop. 25º at TH at 8:30 warmed to 43º by 11:30
Snowpack: Very supportable 4-6″ rockhard crust aspects travelled this morning, including dense aspen forest. Strong solar and warming ambient temperatures quickly softened E-SE surfaces by 930 and 1030 all BTL aspects’ crusts were breaking down. Punchy by 12 noon. Snowpack in 8800-10400′ entirely isothermal and melting fast. Avg HS 40-100cm

IMG_2476

IMG_2475

Avalanches: One fresh D2 wet loose avalanche in the past 48 hours, perhaps a few new smaller ones as well.  The D2 started at about 12,000ft on the south side of Mt Owen, and gouged down to the ground in a thin, rocky area. Probably failed around 3/18.
Weather: Increasing clouds through out the day, becoming mostly cloudy. Moderate westerly winds at ridgeline.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces stayed relatively cooler today thanks to increased clouds and wind. More variable snow surfaces in the alpine. All forms of wind effect, buffed, scraped or sculpted into ugly things. Sun crusts yep, and even some elusive decomposed soft snow surfaces.

On an East aspect around 12,600ft the wetting front had only made it down about 15-20cm’s with dry snow below. In the afternoon, the surface crusts broke down on steeper or rockier easterly slopes despite the cloudy skies.

Northwesterly aspects stayed cold with smooth wind polished or textured faceted snow surfaces.

Avalanches: WL-N-D2.5 (from March 18th?) on a steep, cliff-laden SE aspect ~12000′, debris confined by gully, ran ~2,500′, gouged out old snow and produced some small crowns on the sides of the gully. I don’t think this was triggered by cornice fall and although I could not make out a crown from my vantage points, this may have been a wet slab rather than wet loose avalanche.
Weather: Hot and sunny with light westerly winds
Snowpack: The transition to a spring snowpack is well on it’s way, but not yet very dependable. The window of good corn skiing was pretty short-lived on sun-exposed slopes before the crust softened and ski penetration got deep today. Water was running over ice bulges on steep east-facing slopes between 11,500′ and 12,000′ @9:30am. I also noticed a significant crack on a high-elevation SSW-facing slope. I agree that the wet slab concern is growing.

Meanwhile, it’s still dry and “chalky” on high-elevation (>12,000′), shaded northerly slopes.
Stiff, supportable crust lasted until at least 10:30 am on the valley floor of Washington Gulch, but snow in the dense forest barely refroze overnight (moist snow surface at 7:30am @ 10,000′). Stay away clouds!

IMG_1542

IMG_1537

IMG_1491

FullSizeRender-2

Avalanches: Its finally happened! The Purple Palace Guide Cracks released in some form of wet slab/guide crack collaboration, today.
Weather: Blue bird with a few puffy or high then clouds. Light winds at ridgeline. 2017 Hot. Another bug landed on my goggles at 11,000ft.
Snowpack: Northerly slopes above treeline had a snow surface mix of soft and faceted, to various forms of wind-board or wind sculpted. The combination of these firmer surfaces and the march sun not being high enough yet, are combining to keep the snow surface cool. Tilting more East, from north, the forecasted wet snow travel advice can be followed.

At ridlegline, south slopes where generally firm and supportive before noon. The exception was abnormal shallow slopes that were 50/50 supportive into moist/wet snow below. The next time we were on south slopes proper was around 10,500ft at 2pm and they were generally unsupportive to boots but still supportive to snowmobiles and skis.

Guide Crack release. East Aspect, 10,500ft

IMG_3159

Avalanches: Skied on a few steep southerly aspects mid-afternoon trying to produce signs of instability but got none.
Weather: Hotter than a 2-peckered goat.
Snowpack: Shallow and melting snowpack, generally less than 60 cm below treeline, saw a decent refreeze overnight. Prime corn window on SW’erly aspects was noon, and slopes became unsupportive by 2 p.m. Several hand pits to the ground on S and SW aspects BTL suggest that wet slab concerns are over; the snowpack is homogeneous large weak very wet grains, with drainage well established. It felt like you might be able to trigger a small wet loose in very steep terrain still.
One pit on a NW aspect BTL had moist snow throughout except very wet grains in the top 10 cm, fairly homogeneous snowpack but slightly softer and wetter near the ground.  There were percolation columns piping freewater straight to the ground. There did not appear to be any concerning interfaces/layers for water to pool on in this location, but if there were, free water would have been hitting them.

WNW aspect BTL.  Note the percolation column extending from very wet surface snow strait to the ground.  No problematic interfaces observed throughout the moist snowpack.