Date of Observation: 02/09/2022
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek 9,900-11,400ft. E-NE.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Skier triggered a few small sluffs. Below Treeline, ENE.
Weather: Clouds built up in the morning and alternated between partly and mostly cloudy. Snow flakes did fall from the sky but they didn’t stack up to anything.
Snowpack: More of the same. Felt like L1 avalanche danger with no avalanche problems until you found a slope with all the ingredients for the loose snow avalanche problem. #1 Northerly facing. #2 Protected from the wind. #3 Steep, near or above 40 degrees. If you check all those boxes, then loose snow avalanches are basically guaranteed to be human triggered. Any triggered sluff was small, predictable, and manageable. The terrain was the magnifier for increased hazard or consequence, not the avalanche problem itself.
Due east facing slopes had surface crusts capping the facets that eliminated the loose snow avalanche problem. If you get slightly north of east than the crusts faded away, or of course any terrain influenced shading also eliminated those surface crusts.
Photos:-
- Small skier triggered sluffs
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- Easy initiation on this 40-degree slope. Just uphill where the slope angle was 35 degrees sluffs were not initiating.
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