Avalanches: No natural avalanches observed despite good visibility into the Anthracites, the Ruby Range and Peeler Basin.
Snowpack: HS varied from 20-70cm with more scouring than loading from recent strong westerly and northerly winds near treeline. The snow surface was stiff and we dropped through some trap doors on the top pitch of 70 Gully but it was mostly soft and skied well elsewhere. I found a melt-freeze layer 5-10cm thick near the ground on most slopes, topped by 10-30cm of facets and then settled storm snow or wind slabs up to 30cm thick near the surface. We experienced lots of collapsing and some rumbling collapses extended up to 30m where the surface snow was stiffest near the top of 70 Gully.

Avalanches: Observed a small natural avalanche (R1D1.5) on SE face of Mineral Point from ridge-line but no other instabilities observed around the areas visible from Ridgeline.
Weather: 34F @ TH @ ~1245, consistent 10 – 15 mph wind from NW with gusts up to ~25. Mostly cloudy with pockets of sun. Blowing snow observed BTL where snow was still available for transport and managed to completely fill-in skin track from earlier in the day in several places.
Snowpack: HS of 45cm on protected, ~30 deg, NE facing slope near ridge of First Bowl. ~10cm of 4F windslab over ~20cm of 1mm F facets then 10cm of 2mm F facets and MFCR at the ground. This structure is fairly consistent across Coney’s with the wind slab generally increasing in thickness and firmness as the aspect rotates east (wind slab up to P hardness in areas). No instabilities observed and wind slab didn’t propagate much beyond skis. There are a couple of interfaces that will be important to note as load is added: 1) Wind Slab – Facet interface produced a clean break @ CT8 and 2) Facet – MFCR interface.

First Bowl skied quite well – doesn’t have much of a slab on top. Convex Corner has a stouter slab that makes for hooky turns. Ski light as it’s still quite thin.

Coneys-11.19.15

Avalanches: Observed two natural size 1-2 avalanches on southeast aspects above treeline. Both slides appeared to have occured in the last 24 hours and were the result of wind loading.

Weather: strong gusting winds out of the northwest. Intermittent spitting snow. Mid 20’s temp?
Snowpack: dense slab of new snow, some wind stiffened, on skin track on east to northeast aspects, some collapsing and whomphing. Hasty pit showed 8-10 inches of dense snow popping cleanly on the interface. Surprised to not see any avalanche activity in the zone, or get any reaction skiing though we mostly avoided 30+ degree slopes.

Avalanches: Good views of Gothic, Baldy, and Belleview. Looks like one recent crown on a NE aspect above treeline on Gothic, failing near the ground a foot or two deep. SS-N-R2-D1.5-O/G. Otherwise, no recent activity.
Weather: Broken to scattered cloud cover. Light winds at our elevation but plumes from NW winds off of 12k ft peaks. No precip.
Snowpack: HS averaged 40 cm below treeline. The bottom 5-10 cm is 1.5mm moist facets (F+), and above that is settled snow from recent storms (4F to F, rounds or DF’s). No signs of instability. As we approached near treeline elevations, snowdepth and structure became much more variable due to wind effects. Basal facets were dry, and in some places capped by low density recent snow or in others capped by dense wind drifted slabs up to 2 feet thick. These slabby areas were small and isolated in distribution. We observed some small collapses and cracks when crossing these windloaded pockets.

Avalanches: There were two R1D1 slides on an open NE slope. They appeared to be very shallow, only involving the top few inches.
Weather: Light snow during midday. Winds were generally moderate but with some strong gusting at ridge top. Visibility was limited. Observed wind transporting snow in several locations.
Snowpack: New snow accumulation at 1pm was about 7 inches. Snow surface in open areas was starting to stiffen and crack. Cracking was shallow and only extended a few feet in front of skis. Didn’t experience any collapsing.

Avalanches: 2 point release slides on N-NE aspects (R1,D1)
Weather: Wind blowing on ridges to the E-NE (cornices forming over E-NE aspects). Bluebird day (snow consistency stayed the same throughout the day).
Snowpack: Pit: fracture on ECT 16 (no shear break-off), 10 cm from the base. New storm layers appear to be consolidating with old storm layers. Sun crust forming on southern aspects.

Avalanches: Small bank slide
4 inch crown
adjacent to nordic trail
Weather: Snowy
Snowpack:

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