Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River corridor to Purple Ridge skin track.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread natural avalanche cycle. Below treeline northerlies (weakest snowpack) ran during the storm with many small naturals. Near and above treeline slopes held out longer and produced large, dangerous avalanches. See photos. We remotely triggered one avalanche from 250 feet away that wrapped around some small terrain features producing a large (D2) avalanche on a NE slope.
Weather: Clear skies, cool temperatures, and light winds.
Snowpack: We traveled on mostly easterly aspects (NE-E-SE) slopes. Collapsing was rampant on north and east aspects. Some collapses ran a few hundred feet breaking in well-developed facets. The slab ranged from 10 to 15 inches thick in sheltered terrain. The depth, here in the snowbelt Northwest Mountains forecast area, was up to 90cm (3 feet) in sheltered areas. Signs of instability were obvious and the conditions behaved like a Persistent Slab problem with remote triggering a real concern.

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Red Lady Glades

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Was a good size cornice break just above tree line.
Weather: Frigid and calm
Snowpack: Frequent cracking and whomping in upper meadows on the way up.

Tips up buns down skiing .. pretty thin snowpack up there

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Photos taken from near CB.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: See photos and details of natural activity from yesterday

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of D1 to D2 avalanches on north and east aspects on Whetstone, Emmons, Gothic that ran yesterday. Had good views of S/SW facing terrain out by Copper Creek and Red Ridge with no obvious activity.

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous D1.5- D2 soft slab avalanches on the eastern half of the compass that ran yesterday N/ATL. See photos and avy details below.  Evidence of moving snow on numerous other N/BTL shaded slopes, just hard to classify because they ran earlier in the storm and crowns are filled in.

Date of Observation: 11/30/2022
Name: bill barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic

Weather: Light off and on snow Tuesday- a very dense, small crystal, cold weather snow but only 1″ new and 0.11″ of water. Wind was steady about 8-15 mph from the west. Clearing overnight and cold with the low -10ºF. Currently clear and -8 and wind is calm. Snowpack sits at 16″.

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Evan Ross, Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch, Anthracite Mesa. NE to SE. 9,800ft to 10,800ft.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: We saw a good number of small natural avalanches. D1’s on the aspects we traveled and at the below treeline elevation. Often easy to miss in both size and the poor light, and then ooo hey neighbor… Otherwise, the only other notable avalanches observed were a D1.5 and a D2 next to each other in Coney’s Bowl. They both had notable crowns in the 2ft range, but each ran out of accumulating mass and slope angle.

Weather: Accumulating snowfall and winds continued into the afternoon. The snowfall started to taper off in the early afternoon, while moderate winds remained. The obscured sky just started to break up towards the end of the day.

Snowpack: The subject line sums it up in a simple and frank way. On the NE to SE aspects we traveled the avalanche problem was reactive. We observed continued shooting crack throughout the tour. But those cracks most often wouldn’t propagate very far. The weak layer in this area was just too rough and interrupted by things like bushes and other ground clutter. We primarily traveled in an area with slope angles in the 35-degree or less range, had we been on steeper slopes we may have seen more movement as slabs may have overcome all the friction.

The weak layer is fairly simple. Large grained facets on the top of thick crusts on the SE end, to facets on thin crests around east, to just large and very weak facets on NE. We could dive in deeper but this is a quick summary. This particular weak layer just wasn’t that thick in this terrain. So it is often interrupted by vegetation and the ground. Near the rigeline and at our highest elevation traveled, the weak layer became thicker, more continuous, and lead to more notable avalanche results.

Storm totals on Washington Gultch Road were around 12″ in wind-sheltered areas. At first, this seemed low but made sense with the settlement. The storm snow was thick and slabby.

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard (mostly) route to the top of Snodgrass. 9,600-11,200 feet.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Remotely triggered a soft slab (D1) at the top of first bowl (NE aspect).

Weather: Overcast with light snow.

Snowpack: About 12″ of new snow on top of a trashpile of fascets. Shooting cracks and shattering cracks on any steeper terrain. Easily triggered the top of first bowl on my first step onto the convexity. No idea how far it ran, but I suspect pretty far.

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Walked around camo today right at Baxter basin. Didn’t really ski much it was too deep.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes

Snowpack: About two feet of fresh snow out there. Took an hour to sled. Very touchy, cracks with every step. Had one collapse and then bailed.

Date of Observation: 11/29/2022
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: AMR skinner, 7’s bowl, trees by skinner

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Naturals ran mid storm at skinner test slope, where the skinner crosses the suspect slope after the midway bench, steep side of baby bowl, east bowl.

Weather: Still snowing at 9 am, clear skies by noon. Cold and windy

Snowpack: Widespread shooting cracks, collapses, and whoomphs breaking trail on the skinner