Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Evan Ross

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Primarily Elkton and Baldy Area

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Bit breezy eh. Obscured sky and strong westerly wind. Mostly S-1 and light snowfall. Heavier rimed precip was accumulating as I headed out in the early afternoon.
Snowpack: Hard to measure new snow given all the wind. In a fairly sheltered area at 11,000ft, there was about 6″ new at 1pm. The new snow was very light and mostly getting blown away. I was able to find a couple of small test slopes where the new snow would produce some shooting cracks and holding up as a fresh wind slab. Otherwise, the snow has already been redistributed from the winds with old hard drifts having previously formed. More forecasted snow will provide more fuel for new wind slab development. It was real blustery out there at near and above treeline elevations and managing wind drifted snow was still one of the main concerns.

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Turner Petersen Grace von Mett

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Normal anthracites skin track. Skied sevens.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural wind slab breaking 4” thick probably running 50 feet and propagated probably 30 feet. On friendly Finnish. NNE.
Weather: Windy. Stormy.
Snowpack: Deep.

Date of Observation: 01/03/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Richmond

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Hotline Observation

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Carbon Peak adjacent to Splains Gulch area

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Natural avalanche from Holiday Cycle on the north side of Carbon.

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mount Baldy on 1/3

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of natural avalanches from Holiday cycle in the Ruby Range that remained hidden from the flight crew.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Helicopter

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches:
Weather:
Snowpack:

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022
Name: Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Helicopter

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Documenting the recent avalanche cycle of large to very large avalanches estimated to have run around 12/31. Most were on leeward and shady slopes ATL with a few on West aspects.
Weather:
Snowpack:

Date of Observation: 01/05/2022

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Avalanche observations: Ski Hero’s HS reactive to a single 3 # hand charge. Failed on 2-3mm DH on top of a 1F
crust. 10 cm above the ground.
HS-AE-R3-D2.5-O FC (130cm x 100m x 350m) Failed on late Oct snow

Date of Observation: 01/04/2022

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard Red Lady skin track from the Kebler TH to the Summit.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches:
Weather: Calm and pleasant at the trailhead. Air temps in the 20’s but wind chill must have been -20 at and above tree-line. Eric said on the radio this morning that the jet stream was going to be dipping in our direction; he was spot on, as it felt like we were actually in the jet stream! Sustained SSW winds in the 30-40mph range with gusts much higher than that. I got blown over once and stopped to brace myself several times. Ended up wearing a puffy and full buff on the climb near and above tree-line, which is rare for me…
Snowpack: We were hoping for some recycled powder in the bowl but were (un)pleasantly surprised to find a widespread and inpenetrable windslab throughout caused by strong down slope winds. I suppose the old tracks rising up and out of the snow should have been a clue. The best turns were down lower and anywhere there was a rippled texture to the snow surface. Although there was plenty of wind, there didn’t seem to be much available snow for transport: the ridges are quite scoured.