Avalanches:
Weather: Clear, Calm with a strong valley temp inversion.
Snowpack: No instabilities noted throughout the tour. Persistent slab structure noted on all slopes and at all elevations with varying thickness of slab, with overall HS in this alpine zone generally >1.25M. Fresh cracks noted on one slope (~35*) NTL facing SW from the previous day’s snowmobile traffic, but the compressive support seemed to hold it in place. Rapid settlement from Xmas storm snow continues, and on steep Southerly aspects (>40*) many trigger points / shallow spots in the slab seem easy to hit now again. Pronounced Surface Hoar found from about 10,500’ down to valley floor.

Avalanches:
Weather: 10:15 @ 9000’ Partly Cloudy, Calm and too cold to take a temp; 3mm SH; top 20cm of snow gone to facets; HS: 80cm; BootPen: 10cm SkiPen: 60cm
11:00 @ 9,500’ Partly Cloudy, Calm and -8ºC; SH; HS: 60cm; SkiPen: 5cm BootPen: 60cm
13:00 @ 10,600 Overcast with high, thin clouds, Calm and 1.5ºC; HS:70cm; SkiPen: 10cm BootPen: 70cm
Snowpack: Many, large whumpfs in low-angle terrain below 11,000’. Average snow depth was between 60 and 80 cm. This southwest aspect was a facet-sandwich, with about 30cm of basel facets and 20cm of NSF surrounding a 1F- “slab” in the mid-pack. We skied a 35º slope and had no signs of instabilities.

Avalanches: No recent avalanches observed . Evidence of xmas slides are present, but becoming harder to observe. Did see a fresh cornice fall triggered slide within last 4 days on steep cliffy area on east facing slope on Gothic
Weather: Cold morning warmed with intense solar during day. Around 1300, increasingly overcast skies put damper on any further heating. Calm winds.
Snowpack: Widespread surface hoar and near surface faceting last two mornings. Temperature profile in 130cm pit showed very strong gradients in upper and lower snowpack. -10 to -19C in upper 30cm and -7 to 0 degrees in lower 10cm in a pit South facing at 10,000ft.

Numerous large collapses on 10-30 degree slopes on southern half of compass BTL. ECTP14 SC, numerous CTM and RB6 sudden collapse on a rush block test preformed on a south facing, BTL slope 22 degrees in steepness. Thin layer of moist 3mm facets failed within a 50cm snowpack in this location.

Avalanches:
Weather: Scattered, thin clouds increased in coverage and thickness through the day. Calm winds. High of 34 at 10k
Snowpack: Widespread near surface faceting.
Checked out the bedsurface of a Christmas cycle avalanche on ESE aspect above treeline. Above the crusty bed surface, there was a foot of recent new snow faceting quickly. Advanced 1mm facets above the crust, widespread, F hard.
1 crown profile and one test profile on S aspects near treeline, showed 70 to 100 cm slab over crust/facet sandwiches. The facet/crust layers were more continuous and more reactive where trees had shaded the snowpack. See attached profiles and photos.

Crown Profile, S aspect near treeline

Test profile, S aspect NTL

Crust facet sandwich anyone? S aspect NTL, below 90 cm slab.

Crown profile, S aspect NTL

Bed surface of Christmas cycle slide. ESE aspect ATL. Advanced facets forming above crusty bed surface.

Avalanches:
Weather: Sunny, Clear and Calm with temps in the teens
Snowpack: ASPECT: mostly on the Snodgrass road grade
SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: no new signs of instability around the Snodgrass TH, we where able to produce cracking and collapsing in the upper meadow while exploring on the road. Snowshoe pen 8cm

Avalanches:
Weather: -20F at 7 a.m. warming to 15F midday. Clear and calm.
Snowpack: 1mm surface hoar forming in meadows and open areas South of the Anthracites. While skinning with a large group, experienced whoomping near treeline on South and West aspects.

Avalanches: None
Weather: Sunny and clear, calm winds, no precipitation. Air temperature was -8° C.
Snowpack: Observed rounding surface hoar on this 33 degree southeast facing slope. HS was 93 cm, with a -7° C surface temperature and -9° C 20cm below the surface. The christmas storm slab has continued to round and strengthen with sun exposure on this SE facing slope, but the slab was still very reactive on the bottom layer of 3-4 mm depth hoar. An extended column test yielded ECTP15 Q1 SC.

IMG_2733

Avalanches:
Weather: Clear, Calm and temps in the high single digits to low-teens all day.
Snowpack: Persistent slab over facets and depth hoar. HS ranged from 70-110cm throughout our tour. Ski pen was about 20cms and boot pen was still to the ground. We toured in terrain up to 36*, and got only a few isolated signs of instability (cracking and collapsing) but they were large and frightening. Lots of old avalanche activity on the lower NE side of Snodgrass in steep terrain, and surprisingly filled back in again, with HS in the old tracks back up to about 50-60cms. Avy problem on these slopes though was Loose Dry as opposed to Persistent Slab). Evidence that these paths ran early in the Xmas cycle. A profile on an old crown in steep terrain revealed a 120cm HS that was (top down) F>4F>1F>F>P>F and produced repeatable results of CTM Sudden Collapse on a thin crust (P) layer with facets (F) on either side of it close to the ground. Surface hoar was also observed 20cms below the surface but was unreactive.

Avalanches:
Weather: WEATHER: Clear, Calm and temps in the high single digits to low-teens all day.
Snowpack: SNOWPACK/AVALANCHE OBS: Obviously, we found the same results as Zach, so today’s bulletin, especially the video explains what we saw. We had massive whumpfing all day with large cracks surrounding us. We had a reactive buried surface hoar layer about 25 to 30 cm down. (CTM12 Q1 SP) This was fairly consistent and widespread, although I am sure it is a local issue as the place is obviously a SH factory. We skied slopes up to 33º and had no signs of instabilities while riding.

Avalanches: Plenty of random pockets have pulled out on NE aspects both in the trees and out in open. Avalanche up on Augusta south face just below the summit that appeared fairly recent. R1D1.5?
Weather: sunny, no wind
Snowpack: There was snow and it was packed. Stomped during ski cut on small pocket of hang fire without incident approx. 30-35 degree pitch. Skied slide path that pulled out during last storm cycle and now has 10-12 inches sitting on bed surface. Felt the facet punch under the fresh while skiing.