SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Travel on N and NW aspects near and below tree line on slopes around 35* produced lots of widespread collapsing and cracking. Snow profiles showed an HS of 107 cm in valley floor and 150cm at 11,000′. Snowpack structure was 30-60 cms of soft snow (F & 4F) overlying a 20-40 cm thick 1F hard persistent slab over depth hoar. Test results produced repeatable moderate CT failures with sudden collapse failure character at the Dec 13 interface 1-1.5 M deep and again at the ground level. (See pic below).  Other skiers in the zone reported skier triggering a small slab on a steep convex roll on N facing terrain about 60cms deep size D1-

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: HS 40cm – 100cm, depending on aspect and elevation.  Surface mostly surface facets at all elevations and aspects.  Ski pen 10cm; but would go to 50 cm (full depth) in shallow areas around aspen trees.  Multiple signs of instabilities – large whumpfing and shooting cracks – all in shallow areas, mostly on west aspects.  It feels to me like the slab is deteriorating, but this is making it easier to effect the weak layer.  But nothing really happens because the slab is barely hanging on.  This is just a “feeling” – not much science behind it.

AVALANCHES: Lots of small sluffs running off cliff bands from Schuylkill all the way around to Angel Pass in the basin. Did not observe any slides stepping down into the deeper part of the snowpack.

WEATHER: Sunny skies all day with no wind. Temp’s were coldest at valley bottom and gradually warmed as we ascended. Felt like March or April above tree line in sunny spots.

SNOWPACK: 25-30cm of very low density snow from the previous storm was found throughout Baxter Basin. Sunny slopes were starting to develop a crusty surface especially later in the day. New snow seemed to be bonding well to the hard crust it sat on. Did not dig down to the bottom but did not see or feel any obvious signs of instability within the persistent slab/depth hoar area of the snowpack. Steepest slope skied was 30-35 degrees.

AVALANCHES: Large slide on Baldy “WSC bowl” fracture propagated the the entire face. Looks like new storm snow from my zoom lens. Slide ran approximately 1000 feet.

WEATHER: Sun, Inversion, strong ridgline winds

SNOWPACK: We traveled on Southeast, East and North East. Stout meltfreeze with a 4-5 inches on top, phone book windslabs at ridglines. North trees soft, deep, felt somewhat consolidated underneath.

UPLOADS:

DSC_8361

AVALANCHES: Observed a natural R2 D2 slab avalanche on a northwest facing bowl above paradise divide on Baldy. The slide appeared to be confined to the most recent snow with crown depths approximatly 10″-14″. Looks like this occurred in the last 48 hours.

WEATHER: sunny and warm. Inversion in full effect.

SNOWPACK: Skied west, southwest faceing aspects to the valley floor with no signs of instability. We encountered a highly variable snowpack throughout our tour.

AVALANCHES: Lots of small natural slides in Red Lady Bowl and off of Scarp Ridge. Mostly just sluffing snow, D1 maybe D2 at the largest (biggest appeared to be human trigged sluff from skiing Redwell) and isolated to steepest slopes. Saw evidence of a recent slab avalanche on a steep shaded slope in Redwell, but was way too far away to see anything else.

WEATHER: Splitter. Zero wind until we hit the Emmons summit ridge, then very light from the N-NW. Sunny all day.

SNOWPACK: Red Lady Glades alternated between breakable crust, mashed potatoes, and creamy powder. Snow was very dependent on sky cover, aspect, and elevation; surface conditions varied on a scale of feet.

WEATHER: Sunny skies, cold temps in morning around 5F, but warmed quickly in late morning. Sweating in the sun! Calm or no wind.

SNOWPACK: Today we skied in Elk Creek. Skinned up the ridge and found sun crusts on southern aspects, and weak faceted snow on northeast and east aspects. Lots of surface hoar. The snowpack was 3-4 feet deep. We skied a few short pitches on NE and E terrain. Around 6″ of new snow from the last few days’ storms. The snow underneath was pretty rotten. The new snow easily sloughed on steep terrain, especially around rock/pillow features. Just about every skier, every run caused a large slough that ran slow, but traveled over 100 feet. It was not hard to stay in front of the slough on your skis, but it could definitely push a skier into trees if you weren’t moving quickly. The new snow was fairly faceted, and these sloughs behaved like the facet sloughs we were seeing in December.

WEATHER: Clear and calm.

SNOWPACK: Well developed surface hoar observed at all elevations. Surface snow is already beginning to facet, and is losing cohesiveness. Ski penetration in this zone seems to be increasing with surface faceting cycle happening. Observed 2 fairly major collapses and some cracking when making hard ski turns on slopes around 35*, but nothing moved (see pic below). Slabs losing cohesiveness in this zone ??

UPLOADS:

Echelon cracks noted on hard turn mid-slope from skier on January 15th, 2015