AVALANCHES:

WEATHER:

SNOWPACK: No signs of instability today except a few rollerballs on steep southerly aspects ATL. Windslabs trending toward unreactive…kicked around on a few pockets and couldn’t get any to budge. On north aspects above treeline, the recent snow (~6″) landed on 1mm near surface facets; that seems were you could trigger a windslab if you found one, but most of these slopes were scoured back by NW to N winds in the past 2 days. Surfaces became wet to moist on SE to S to SW aspects near/above treeline today, with moisture down to the old 3/24 crust interface.
Several profiles on the north face of Crystal Peak (ATL) in areas that didn’t avalanche during early March cycle still showing persistent slab structure, with 60-90 cm of 1F slab over Feb facet layer, ranging from 1.5mm to 3mm in size, generally 4F to F hard. Mixed results from ECTX to ECTP, seemed most concerning in areas with shallower snow depth.

UPLOADS:

NAME: Zach Guy

DATE: 3/25/15

Around 6″ of new snow since Monday night, drifted areas holding a foot or more in places over frozen crusts.Strong winds from the W yesterday shifted to NW today.  Noted a few small natural windslabs, (D1) on E aspects yesterday above treeline, and skier triggered a few small windslabs today on E to S aspects above treeline.  All D1, 4-10″ thick, failing on the storm interface (crust) or in mid-storm layers, near Star Pass.Still seeing some unsupportive crusts below treeline that haven’t gotten a much refreeze insulated by the fresh snow (4-12″ refreeze). Small rollerballs today on low elevation sunny slopes.  Above treeline feels rock solid below the new snow on sun exposed aspects.

AVALANCHES: Several natural point release avalanches and one soft slab observed in the Ruby Range on south and east aspects above treeline. Didn’t get a good chance to see these avalanches before they where hidden in the shade, but they all appeared to be in the D1 to D1.5 range.

WEATHER: Heavy snowfall and near whiteout conditions Wednesday morning with about 4″ of new snow in an hour or two. Sky became partly cloudy by 1pm with strong solar at times.

SNOWPACK: Irwin storm totals where about 14” on the storm board Wednesday morning, from Monday nights to Wednesday mornings snowfall. Wind patterns where poor for creating windslabs in the area and otherwise the new snow was holding up well on the old snow interface. Snow surfaces became moist on east, south and west when the sun came out mid day.

UPLOADS:

AVALANCHES: One natural soft slab running on the east face of Mt. Owen. SS-N-R1-D1.5-U

WEATHER: Clear through the first half of the day and becoming mostly cloudy by 2pm. Westerly winds where gusting during the first part of the day with some blowing snow, before becoming more sustained at Moderate speeds with more continued drifting.

SNOWPACK: New snow was relatively dense above treeline with drifts up to 25cm deep. We found thin wind slabs 2-4″ thick on many slope and one 6″ thick slab on an isolated pocket. These slabs would pop in hand shears within the new snow, but we didn’t observe any cracking or other signs to instability while skiing slopes over 40 degrees. Small sloughs running within the new snow were the only concern.

Snow surfaces stayed dry today at these elevations and on all aspects toured. Also, there was a lot of graupel, sometimes buried within the new snow and sometimes on the surface, it was like a giant sandbox on some slopes.

UPLOADS:

Natural soft slab running on the east face of Mt. Owen. SS-N-R1-D1.5-U

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