Avalanches: Fresh D1 to D2 wet loose on northerly aspects near town. All of these likely ran last 24 hours, appeared to entrain only the top 5-10″ of wet snow.
-D1 in Half Bowl on Axtell
-D1.5 in Unemployment Chute
-D1.5 and D2 Happy Chutes
-D1.5 in Climax Chutes

Also a 3 or 4 fresh looking D2 glide avalanches on Whetstone, NE aspect BTL. Uncertain on the timing of these, looked to be sometime in the past few days; best guess is they ran today.
Weather:
Snowpack:

D1.5 Happy CHutes

D2 Happy CHutes

D1 Half Bowl

Avalanches: Looks like a fresh wet D2 off of NE face of Mt. Owen from the last day or so.
Weather: Overcast skies thickened through the day; some green housing in the morning. High of 45 at 10k, 34 at 12k. Moderate SW ridge top winds
Snowpack: A trace of new snow and rain overnight on top of a thin refreeze. Surfaces remained frozen at 12,000 feet, but the snowpack was or became punchy at lower elevations. Snowmobile track plunging deep when you would get off of old tracks. Didn’t travel on any steep terrain to observe wet instabilities

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear sky in the morning becoming overcast as the day progressed. No wind. Temps at 7:30 26f valley bottom. Rapidly warming with strong solar am. Overcast by 12:30 with tens into the mid 40f.
Snowpack: Inversion over night and a slight freeze made for supportable conditions for only a brief moment today. No signs of instability seen. Rapid warming meant we had to be finished by 12:00 due to moist snow pack towards the valley floor. Boot pen at 12:00 was 15-20cm.

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.