Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Purple Ridge to 12,200′. Easterly and northerly aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous small wet loose avalanches ran at all elevations, predominantly on east and southeast aspects this morning (D1s). A few reached around to NE aspects BTL. These all ran on the dust/crust layer. We skier triggered a couple of similar avalanches and observed other skier triggered slides as well. Skier triggered one hot wind slab that entrained wet loose snow on a crossloaded gulley below treeline (D1).
Weather: Light ridgetop winds, minor transport. Clear skies. Springlike temps.
Snowpack: Settled storm snow depths ranged from 4″ to 8″, notably redistributed by wind in this area.
Targeted a few windloaded test slopes and could only get localized cracking with no releases, until we got one wind slab to pop later in the day in a steep chute. Drifts were up to 2 feet thick below large fetches, but the cracking was occurring on a mid-storm layer about 6″ to 8″ deep.
Mid to high northerlies stayed dry, with wet loose activity beginning mid-morning on easterlies. The 4/14 interface stayed frozen and supportive to ski pen through midday.

Date of Observation: 04/16/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Slate River Road and Purple Ridge.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Schuylkill Ridge saw a wind slab cycle (averaging D1.5) on crossloaded terrain from Northwest winds yesterday. Several other soft slabs above treeline ran during or after the storm yesterday.

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.

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.