Avalanches: none observed
Weather: cloudy, overcast, winds from south, no percipitation
Snowpack: compression test – CTE 8 (27cm) flat angle
extended column test – ECTN13 (27cm) suspect layer
Q1 – sudden planar

tests close to road – fresh snow

Avalanches: Moderate cracking and we intentionally skier triggered harmless, pockety wind slabs behind crossloaded trees and rollovers, up to 18″ thick and 10 feet wide.
Weather: Moderate SW winds, some plumes off of high peaks. S-1 began mid-afternoon, ramped to S2 around sunset. ~1″ so far. Warm temps.
Snowpack:

Avalanches: Looked like a 48hr’ish old windslab had pulled off of the south face of Mineral. Couldn’t see the crown in the flat light. R1-D1 in size.
Weather: Overcast sky. S-1 snowfall developing around 2:30pm. Generally light winds in the area but plumes were visible off the peaks.
Snowpack: Observed snowpack in the area didn’t have much to be concerned about. At 11,400ft, SSE aspect, 33 degree slope, HS 112, right-side up snowpack with no layers of concern. The 12/6 interface was down 27cm and mostly DFs. This slope would have started building a snowpack during the thanksgiving storm.

Avalanches: None observed.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, occasional light snow, no significant accumulation between 9am-1:30pm. Light WNW winds increased later into the afternoon. Temp was around 0*c. High westerly winds observed looking into the Ruby range above Owen and Purple.
Snowpack: Variable snowpack between ground and 78cm. Weak facets observed mid pack approx 50cm depth most of snowpack was 4F-1F small grained facets near ground. ECTP 16 which propagated @ 1-2mm near surface facets. Test was done on 28degree slope.

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Avalanches:
Weather: Overcast, winds out of the southwest on the ridge top. No wind int he valley bottom. Temp was a round ) degree C
Snowpack: It is a slaughter fest up there. Lots of good skier traffic in the main bowl and nearby slopes. Looked at the snowpack briefly. 70 cm mostly unconsolidated Fist but there was a 4F mid pack which was about 20 cm thick. We observed some consistent easy shears using a compression test at the old snow new snow interface and consistently on the ground. The ground was uneven plants but all facetted. All our columns released on the ground either while cutting or if we continued to tap after the first failure up high. It did not feel like a lot of strength in the snowpack. We saw no signs of instability while skiing although it did feel hollow sometimes.

Avalanches: no avalanches observed aside from small, 40’x40′ windslab on steep convex roll test slope (see photo). Predictable cracking off skis in steeper terrain on NSF 10-20cm below surface.
Weather: Mostly cloudy to obscured all day, light snow tapered to flurries early afternoon. Light to moderate WNW winds all day, increasing in the afternoon. Total snow accumulations 4-5″. Temperatures were balmy, 25-28ºF.
Snowpack: Variable snowpack between bare ground and 130cm, with average snow depth 75cm on northerly terrain, 50cm on south facing in terrain travelled today (N/BTL). Winds were lightly transporting snow into 10-20″ windslabs on lee (E-SE facing) terrain. Cracking and localized collapsing up to 25ft away on both friable suncrusts and 1-2mm near surface facets formed by recent cold snap. Near the ground the snow and facets are still weak, but not as weak as near surface facets midpack. Snowpack was 1F hard, moist, small grained facets near ground. Bottomline: biggest concern is buried near surface facets under snow in last 24hrs. Gonna need l~1″ of water in 12-24hrs to see widespread avy cycle where we travelled today. Surprisingly weak structure.

shooting crack between people.

 cross section of fracture on slope..

Avalanches: We skier triggered one small soft slab, failing on Dec 6th facet layer, about 8″ thick and 25 feet wide. Harmless in size, and managed like a storm slab. SS-ASc-R1-D1-I
Weather: Overcast, S-1, calm winds below treeline with a few plumes and gusts observed up high, mild temps.
Snowpack: Below treeline, the structure remains shallow and faceted, but we are starting to see signs of instability with the new snow. A few shooting cracks and one collapse observed today on NE aspects below treeline. There is about 6-8″ very soft slab over the Dec 6th near surface facet layer (1mm, F hard), with facets to the ground below that. In a few areas, there is some lingering 4F midpack, faceting slab, and we got one collapse where this was overlying ~2mm basal facets. This seemed to be a fairly isolated concern where we traveled, and saw no other signs of instability on various slopes up to 40 degrees in steepness. My biggest concern is when we put a real slab on our Dec 6th facet layer, which was widespread across every slope we traveled on.

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Avalanches: 12,000′, East aspect, SS-N-R1-D1.5-I at the top of Purple Palace, ran from overnight winds. Crown only lightly filled in.

11,700′ Northeast aspect, SS-N-R1-D1-I off Schuylkill Mtn Southeast ridge. Crown still crisp, but shallow, highlighted in photo attached.
Weather: Broken skies became overcast with light snow and stinkin’ cold, getting colder from mid-morning on. Light North to Northwest winds.
Snowpack: 22cm of cold smoke buried the facets from the last week (Dec 6th interface). Above treeline, last night’s winds built fresh slabs, but in sheltered areas there’s no slab on the Dec 6th facets. The November snow is strengthening / sintering making a right-side-up base. No cracking or collapsing observed today while breaking trail into terrain with no prior tracks on North through East aspect. Test skiing and snowpack tests produced no results. That said, the December 6th facets will likely come to life if the snow forecasted for the weekend comes to life.

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