Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate area
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A few more previously undocumented wet slabs. These ran sometime after Evan was in the area mid-day on 4/12, so likely the afternoon of 4/12 or sometime 4/13.
Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Gunnar Doyle
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Started at Washington Gulch TH, made our way up the ridge to the west of the Spoon. Skied the little spoon to the lookers left of the spoon twice.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: R.5, D1 Wet Loose triggered by skier. Skier was able to ski out unharmed. The avalanche ran a few hundred feet down the terrain feature.
Weather: Sunny, no winds, 35°
Snowpack: A few inches of fresh snow from Friday night’s storm on top of a crust.
Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Sean Feese
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Normal sled route out slate to the daisy pass area
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski cut one wind slab which triggered on the east face. Shallow, soft ran a few hundred vert. A handful of small windslabs released naturally. East aspect recieved sun midmorning and developed a crust when temps dropped in the afternoon. S face remained dry all day.
Weather: Partly cloudy, breezy. Light snow in the morning.
Snowpack: Overnight temps set up the old snow, though some spots near valley bottom remained wet and the snowmobile cut through. Significant wind loading all day in the alpine on easterly aspects.
Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Walrod gulch road, from the parking lot on cement creek road, .2 miles up the trail.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: The available appears to have run mid week during the warm up. Some of the snow/ice chunks were 2-3 feet in diameter. Some tree damage near the base of the hill. Debris stopped at the base of the hill before hitting the main trail.
Weather: Sunny and cool
Snowpack: Dust on fragile crust. About two inches of fresh snow on top of unstable crust.
Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Axtell Green Lake Bowl
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D2 cornice fall above Green Lake, likely yesterday or today.
Date of Observation: 04/15/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mount Emmons on various aspects to 12200′
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A handful of thin soft slabs and wet loose avalanches involving the new snow ran naturally or were triggered today (D1s). Most of the slabs were in wind-affected terrain, but at least one broke more like a storm slab.
Weather: Scattered cloud cover cleared by early afternoon. The alpine felt cold and wintery; moderate to strong northwest winds with periods blowing snow. Below treeline felt mild and springlike.
Snowpack: Storm totals increased from a few inches near valley floor up to 10″ above treeline. The snow appeared to be bonding well on most undrifted slopes, but I popped a shallow slab on a rollover below treeline that broke near the storm interface. Drifts averaged about a foot deep and were up to 2′ thick in heavily drifted areas. I produced localized cracking up to 5′ in drifts. I didn’t see any natural wet loose activity today but it was becoming easy to trigger at low elevations by about 1 p.m., involving the top 4″ of wetting snow over the dust/crust. Near the valley floor, that crust was breaking down this afternoon and ski pen was knee-deep on a few slopes.
The weekly summary is here. Who turned up the thermostat? This week saw soaring temperatures and impressive wet avalanche activity.
Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Bear Claw
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: NE 11,000ft. A wet avalanche that gouged deeply and accumulated additional snow. Large debris pile in the apron below and not visible in the photo. Hard to tell if this avalanche was a wet loose, wet slab, or maybe started by a small cornice chunk.
Date of Observation: 04/13/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy. NW and S.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: I didn’t notice any new avalanche activity.
Weather: Cloud cover was partly cloudy through mid-day and then increased through the afternoon. Moderate winds at upper elevations.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces were frozen and supportable near the trailhead.
Skied NW into the P-Divide bowl and didn’t leave any tracks. Realized the no tracks thing could be a fun game during times like these. The snow surface was a thin supportable crust over dry snow.
Skied the South Bowl of Baldy around 1 pm. The crust wasn’t supportable off the top and ski pin was dropping into the wet mushy snow below. This was in part because of the below-average snowpack depth that exists in the top 1/4 of the bowl. We traveled skier left where the snow surface was supportable but I could still plunge my pole into the wet snow below. The snowpack was stronger in the runout either from the old avalanche debris or the increased snowpack depth.
The snowpack was supportable on the route back to the trailhead.
Quote from Than: “Remember, If it snows tonight, we get to claim that we skied the dirtiest day of the season… so far.”
Photos:
Date of Observation: 04/12/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Upper Slate, Purple Ridge.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: More of the same. Mostly loose wet avalanches with some gouging deeply into the snowpack.
Weather: A little bit of everything. Cloud cover was alternating between partly cloudy and mostly cloudy. Some convective pulses pushed through and even a little rain.
Snowpack: The snowpack stayed supportive to boots through mid-day, then things felt like they were starting to deteriorate more quickly on my way home. Skiing was lovely, often grabby, and slow, and I even got chased by a pack of brown roller balls to keep it interesting. Was out to gather some equipment and didn’t tango with much avalanche terrain.
Dug into a 30-degree NE-facing slope at 10,800ft. The wetting front had made it about 40cm’s deep. It was just hitting an interface at this location. CTN in the upper snowpack. Loose wet avalanches looked like the primary hazard in this location.
Photos:
