AVALANCHES: Natural slide off SE (ish) face of Redwell observed from Coneys ridge. Assume this is a windslab but it could have been a wet loose slide.

WEATHER: Strong N-NW winds at start of tour, winds ceased in afternoon. Clear skies and very warm.

SNOWPACK: 3-5 inches of dense, wind affected snow over crust. Variable skiing. No signs of instability observed.

UPLOADS:

IMG_20150205_132418250_HDR

AVALANCHES: Observed 11 fresh natural soft slab avalanches on E, SE, and NE aspects above treeline, mostly D1.5, and one D2. Averaged an estimated 1 to 2 feet deep, ranging from 30 feet to 600 feet wide, averaging about 50-150 feet wide, presumably on or above the Jan 30th interface. Ran in the last 36 hours. Also about 10 very small wet loose avalanches on south aspects near/above treeline from steep, rocky slopes.

• 2x SS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Mt Owen’s E/NE face
• 1xSS-N-R1-D1-U on Mt. Owen’s NE face
• 1xSS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Mt. Afley’s SE face
• 2x SS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Mt Richmond’s E and SE faces
• 1x SS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Hancock Peak’s SE face
• 2x SS-N-R2-D2/1.5-U in the Anthracite Range E aspect ATL (wide propagation, 600 feet?, happened today)
• 2xSS-N-R1-D1.5-U off of Scarp Ridge, NE aspect ATL.
• 10x WL-N-R1-D1-S various south aspects N/ATL
• We skier triggered a fresh windslab on a SE aspect ATL. Up to 18″ deep, 30 feet wide, failing on mid-storm DF’s. SS-ASc-R1-D1-S

WEATHER: Moderate winds with strong gusts began to ease midday, with moderate snow transport in the morning. A high of 39 at 10k feet. Thin clouds, few to scattered.

SNOWPACK: Surfaces became moist on SE to SW aspects N/BTL in wind sheltered areas.

1xSS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Mt. Afley’s SE face

2x SS-N-R1-D1.5-U on Mt Owen’s E/NE face

2x SS-N-R2-D2/1.5-U in the Anthracite Range E aspect ATL (wide propagation, 600 feet?

skier triggered a fresh windslab on a SE aspect ATL. Up to 18″ deep, 30 feet wide, failing on mid-storm DF’s. SS-ASc-R1-D1-S

Windslab on east aspect of Red Coon that likely failed naturally on 2/2/15

AVALANCHES: Ski cut 3 soft, shallow windslabs, 3-6” deep, 10-40 ft wide, harmless in size, breaking on mid-storm layers. SS-ASc-R1-D1-S

WEATHER: 3″ of new snow through the day. 20 mph winds out of WSW, gusting to 48 mph. Moderate snow tranpsport; pretty significant loading onto NE aspects off of Scarp Ridge.

WEATHER: Stayed cold under light to moderate breeze (Winds from North & West) & overcast sky.

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: No Avy’s seen 1 collapse @ 12K S facing slope ~20*

Open ridgelines wind blasted Dense shady tree aspects holiding ~10-15cm of good snow on supportive base
southerlies holding very good supportive crust with ~15cm of dense new snow that stayed dry.

AVALANCHES: Flat light but I could make out two fresh debris piles off of the East face of Mt. Owen, about D1.5 in size, ran an estimated 1,500 feet. I’m assuming they were windslabs but couldn’t see the start zones.

WEATHER: Moderate WSW winds, with extreme gusts, with large plumes off of peaks and moderate snow transport. Light snowfall tapered mid-morning. Winds eased in afternoon. Broken skies all day.

SNOWPACK: About 4-5″ of dense, wind affected snow over the Jan 30th melt freeze crust. 1″ of new.

AVALANCHES: 4lb air blast in Lone Wolf removed new cross-loaded snow on the skier’s right. The D2 slide ran nearly full path on the old, wind-affected crust from 20150130, depositing debris up to 2m deep. Two 4lb air blasts in Ski Heroes produced a D1 slide consisting of new snow on the wind-scoured 20150130 interface. In Ski Heroes, a 4 lb airblast produced a D1 on a similar bed surface.

WEATHER: Light snow, light winds 6-9am. Then calm and clear, 30 F.

SNOWPACK: Recent windloads on ridge from North and South. Fresh, deep wind slab on top 100′ of the run. No signs of instability.

WEATHER: Mostly clear with steady winds from the north/nw 15mph w gusts 20+

SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Toured up Snodgrass with level 1 Avy class. HS 100cm. Found several layers in the upper 20cm of the snowpack. Wind crust, buried surface hoar, decomposing new snow particles, buried surface hoar again, then ice/sun crust (5cm!) and then another layer of buried surface hoar. Upon digging, the upper pack collapsed. First time above sun crust, second time below crust, failing both times on buried surface hoar layers and failing both times while digging. Persistent slab buried deeper in the snow pack was not reactive to snow tests.

Snowpack Summary, February 2015.   -ZG