Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Axtell Zone
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: Axtell 4th + 5th Bowl, Numerous D1’s failing on the dirty old snow just below the corniced ridgeline.
Started in ~40º Terrain + lost momentum as the slope lessened. Weather: Cold + Overcast in AM
Wind picked up again in the late AM Snowpack: BTL: More Dense from the wind than yesterday. Trees had about 30-40% of snow in their branches on N facing slopes.
Stomped off some fresh cornices at treeline on ~30º slopes
Many Aspects held firm surfaces where the dense wind slab sits. Dense over Dense, lacking an obvious weak layer.
Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Slate River Corridor to Pittsburg. Skied into the basin on east side of Schuylkill Peak.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: I observed a few small loose snow avalanches, two slab avalanches in wind-drifted terrain, and skier triggered two small wind slabs near treeline that were 12 to 18 inches deep. Poor visibility limited views into the Ruby Range. Weather: Overcast skies, cool temperatures, and the constant westerly wind. Occasional light snowfall in the afternoon but no accumulations. During periods of improved visibility, there was a constant stream of blowing snow at upper elevations focusing on the easterly aspects. Snowpack: At 10,500 feet I measured 12 inches of storm snow with 1.1″ SWE near Schuylkill Peak. In sheltered areas, I found storm snow without slab properties but a storm density change near the bottom of storm snow. Sheltered terrain could produce loose avalanches on very steep terrain. As soon as I found drifted terrain, I was able to produce shooting cracks up to 20 feet and easily triggered two small slabs on leeward rolls in the basin. Leeward features had drifts up to 2 feet thick. The triggered avalanches failed on the density change near the base of the storm snow.
Photos:
Shovel Tilt Tests failed with easy taps near the bottom of the storm snow. Bonding between the new snow and old crust appeared decent.
A small skier-triggered slab on a drifted roll.
Another small, intentionally triggered avalanche in drifted snow.
An example of the substantial loading going on at upper elevations on Whetstone in the evening.
More blowing snow at upper elevations focusing on easterly aspects of Augusta and Mineral Point.
I got one good glimpse of a Wind Slab on the east side of Schuylkill Peak. The brown crust below was quiet obvious in the bed surface. I couldn’t tell if it reached large size.
A small natural avalanche on a cross-loaded feature below Schuylkill sub-peak.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): 16 Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1.5 Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Additional comments: Visibility was poor so uncertain if this reached D2 size. Brief view of crown and the obvious brown crust was exposed on the bed surface.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Additional comments: Crown drifted in some so I coded for 4/12. Cross-loaded slope below Skooks sub-peak.
Date of Observation: 04/13/2022 Name: daniel kreykes
Zone: Southeast Mountains Route Description: California bowl
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: Super sluffy new snow on crust on open E/NE slopes with supportive crusts. Only a concern on the steepest entrance pitches, but first turns entrained a fair amount of new snow and ran 250-300′ into trees. Weather: Cold Snowpack: Nice light pow on crust
Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Splains + Axtell Region
Observed avalanche activity: No Avalanches: none observed Weather: cold, overcast, light intermittent snow. ~1cm over the day.
Increasing Howling winds -can hear the train through the Kebler corridor. Plumes up on red Lady glades & Evan’s Basin (see photo below). New snow ripped away, down to dirty corn. Snowpack: 2″ overnight, Storm Total 9″-11″ observed.
BTL: No sign of windslab on N + E slopes, just good riding snow quality.
Tree bombs increased from Zero to Widespread as winds increased through out the day + the old growth swayed. No wind effect on snow in open clearings BTL that we skied, just in the tree tops.
Hearsay: Ran into a skier finishing on Axtell 1st Bowl. He said the snow was sluffing in the narrow chutes through the old growth. Then became windslab in the open (poor quality skiing but not reactive under their skis)
Thanks to everyone for coming out to our appreciation party at the Talk of the Town last Friday! Congrats to Travis Colbert, who won the observation contest earning himself a new pair of Weston skis for submitting the most observations this season.
Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Splains to Carbon
Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Variable:
Carbon light winds w/ sun breaking thru making it feel mild
Under the Kebler Cloud cap: cold + snowy, light winds except in Kebler Corridor
Snowpack: No signs of instability on Wind sheltered slopes.
Did not venture into areas with strong winds.
BTL Intense wind transport in the Kebler corridor
BTL Slopes, all Aspects outside the corridor no wind transport
Storm snow was stuck remarkably well on moist, unfrozen, old snow surface.
Splains region 7″
Carbon region 2″
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: In steep terrain near 40 degrees the new snow sluffed easily. Several natural loose snow avalanches in similar terrain. A few small pockets produced a very small slab. All avalanche activity was small in size.
Weather: This was an afternoon tour. Accumulating snowfall continued through the afternoon with a few breaks of clearing weather. Down valley winds were transporting snow, but we were hanging out in mostly wind sheltered areas.
Snowpack: 6 to 7 inches of new snow on average with some settlement through the day with the periods of sun popping out. On NE and E facing terrain the new snow was more noticeably thick and settling quicker. On steep due north facing terrain the riding conditions were the best with a deeper and dryer feel. No real slab avalanche problems were encountered in this mostly wind-sheltered terrain, and loose dry avalanches were the primary problem. Those avalanches were predictable and relatively easy to manage.
Photos:
A sluff
Multiple loose snow avalanches piled up where they funneled together.
Steep due north at 11,500ft. Dry new snow capping a thin crust over a thin layer of facets. Not enough snow here for a slab avalanche problem.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
We’re excited to announce the release two new data visualization tools that we have been developing over the winter. These products come from the collaborative volunteer efforts of Reggie Park and Michael Futch. We owe them a huge thank you. Currently, the tools are best suited for desktop computer use. We are working on making them mobile-friendly this summer. The links are accessible from our desktop homepage under the Observations->Avalanches tab on the top menu. Our original avalanche rose, which is mobile-friendly, is still available on the website under the “hamburger” menu.
Each dot on the rose represents an observed avalanche. Dots are color-coded by a number of user-selected filters, such as avalanche type, trigger, forecast zone, or failure interface. Dots are sized according to the avalanche’s destructive size, and shaded by how recent they are relative to today. Note that the dots are randomly placed within the aspect/elevation octant that the avalanche originated from. Thus, dot placement is not a precise azimuth or altitude, but rather, a general location within the boundaries of that octant. If you mouse hover over each avalanche dot, it will provide additional information and a link to the original observation. Use the time scale slider to filter by date. Another important caveat is that the rose only shows avalanche activity that we observe and document, which is not a comprehensive tally of backcountry avalanches. Our avalanche observations tend to be biased by the terrain that we have better views of or visit more often. For example, we have very good vantages of a lot of east and northeast facing paths from town, such as Climax Chutes, Happy Chutes, and Schuylkill Ridge, whereas we don’t have as many views of northwest or west facing avalanche terrain, such as the west side of the Ruby Range.
The avalanche table allows you to filter, sort, and search for avalanche activity by any number of variables, such as size, elevation, aspect, etc. You can also export your filtered results as a PDF or excel sheet.
Zone: Northwest Mountains Route Description: Traveled on NE to SE aspects on Mt. Afley to 12,600 ft this morning, and a brief bino tour along Kebler Pass Road mid day.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes Avalanches: Counted a handful of small wet loose avalanches on easterly aspects, a few of which ran yesterday and a few more that ran today, all D1 in size. See photos. Weather: Thin cloud cover began filling in over the Ruby Range by late morning, with cloud cover holding off a little longer over the Anthracites and Axtell. Moderate westerly ridgetop winds. Warm temps. Snowpack: Weaker overnight refreeze that was punchy to boot pen (~10″) on a number of slopes but still supportive to skis. We found ideal corn skiing on SE aspects at 10:30 a.m. By 11 a.m, ski pen was increasing to 5″ or 6″ in wet snow on east facing terrain near treeline. The arrival of thicker clouds by noon seemed to help moderate surface melt. Northeast aspects got moist in the upper 6″ or so, and produced a few small wet loose slides while most slopes on that aspect were too roughed up by previous winds to do much.
Photos:
Small wet loose activity off or Purple Peak (SE aspect) that ran yesterday.
Axtell 2nd bow (NE aspect), ran today
East bowl of AMR (east aspect). I think these ran today.
Near Northwest Bowl of AMR (NE aspect), ran today.
Ski pen was deeper today than yesterday on east aspects, up to about 6″ at 11 a.m.
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Relative Size: R1 very small Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people Avg. crown height (inches): Avg. width (feet): Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught: # of partial burials: # of full burials:
Zone: Southeast Mountains Route Description: Up Red Lady glades via old road to billboard
Down Bowl
Observed avalanche activity: No Weather: 07:00 cold to 12:00 Mild on ridge lines + nearly calm Snowpack: dense + firm in AM then softening nicely ~11:00
2-3inches of well bonded wind deposited up high, no signs of instability.
Fresh snow has not transformed enough to be great skiing until ~11,600 and then excellent, supportive corn to the valley floor.
