Avalanches: none observed
Weather: cold & moderate wind in AM gave way to mild & calm in PM
Snowpack: 2 small collapses at ridgeline on Easterly wind loaded ~20* slope

Avalanches:
Weather: Indeed. OVC to Obscured back to OVC. Moderate to Strong Winds from the North at valley floor all day, WSW at ridge top, somewhat calm in the trees. S1-S3 rimed PP and grauple (sp?) throughout day with a lull at 1630. Full conditions, prime day for an extra buff and a double check on client clothing.
Snowpack: 1 big whumpf in the valley just before starting our ascent, no other signs of instability. Similar results to Dave with a quick pit just off the ridge on skier’s Right of the bowl- CT 16 45cms down on crust. Sorry I didn’t get a better description of the break, little blustery but if we want to go old school I’d say Q1.25 to be precise. Broke clean but didn’t pop. No signs of instability on the ski, kept it low angle. Certain wind transport all day.

Avalanches:
Weather: Overcast with no precip and light wind in morning. Air temp was 1*C at 12:50. At approx 13:00, SW wind increased with moderate gusts and precip began.
Snowpack: Variable conditions depending on aspect. Sun crust on S & SE aspects. Cold, faceted snow in sheltered, N –> E aspects. Crust at 5″ depth on E aspect, BTL. Wind transport was observed beginning at 13:00 on top of Coneys. Visible crown and debris from remote triggered slide on 3/2. No signs of instability were observed today.

Avalanches: We came a crossed a large debris pile at the bottom of the Pencil, A persistent slab D2.5 ripped out from the upper SE flank, moving rock and trees with it running 100ft a crossed and 1000ft down from the exit of the couloir.
Weather: Overcast sky, mid 30*F, Light wind out west
Snowpack: No signs of instabilities, warm temps from the days before helped form sun crusts on the southerly slops and gullied features. 3mm surface hoar growth on the N-E aspects above TL and BTL. HS ranged from 250 to 300

Avalanches: None
Weather: Overcast skies, S-1 at 4 p.m. Calm winds in sheltered areas where we traveled, but snow transport observed on some high peaks from strong SW winds.
Snowpack: Traveled on numerous north through east facing slopes below treeline on Mt. Axtell and Mt. Emmons with no signs of instability and found unreactive persistent slab issues in several pits (See photos). Buried facet or facet/crust layers are generally 35-40 cm deep, ~1mm in size and rounding. Slabs are F to 4F and decomposing. Surfaces are generally 0.5mm near surface facets, transitioning to thin melt freeze crusts around 80* (ENE). Isolated pockets of preserved surface hoar, up to 15mm in size on E and N aspects.

NE aspect, 9,600 ft. Happy Chutes. 2 crust/facet layers ~35 cm deep. ECTN 22, BRK on facets below the bottom crust.

NE aspect, 10,600 ft. Mt. Axtell. ECTN 26, BRK on rounding facets 45 cm deep.

East aspect, 11,000 ft. Mt Axtell. Multiple crust facet layers 35 to 60 cm deep. ECTN 24 BRK on 1mm facets above the top-most crust.

Isolated pockets of large, surface hoar still in tact on E and N aspects, in some places above a crust. Most surfaces were small grained, near surface facets or wind-broken rounds.

North aspect, 10,000 ft on Mt. Axtell. ECTX. 1mm rounding facets buried 35 cm deep. Rain crust over rounding facets buried 65 cm deep.

Avalanches: Skier triggered slide, D2, on Daisy pass within 15′ of saddle. 100′ wide and ran approx 1000′ from a 6″-24″ crown. No skiers caught or injured.
Weather: Mostly bluebird
Snowpack: Wind effect on all aspects from soft to moderate slabbing.

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Avalanches: At 9600 on the Gothic Road (about 1/2 mile from the trailhead). We saw a recent R3 D1 slab avalanche that had released naturally on the steep NE facing road cut. The slope angle of the terrain was about 40 degrees. Active wind loading seemed to be the trigger. (Edit: Snowcat Triggered)
Weather: Scattered clouds and some gusty winds throughout the day, especially near the Snodgrass trailhead. We saw some blowing snow in these more exposed areas. Air temp around 40 degrees F at 1PM. No precip.
Snowpack: Dug in the snow at 9460 on a 29 degree NNE slope. Found a thick and distinct crust layer at around 50 cm down with some variable (but overall soft) layers above. Below the crust was a layer of sugary facets but quickly transitioned to more consolidated snow below that. A compression test revealed an easy (3 taps), sudden, and planar fracture at 30 cm down. An ECT showed full and planar propagation on 3 taps at the same layer. These results occurred on buried near-surface facets (1cm). Touring off the road revealed some localized collapsing around skis but nothing shooting across terrain and no loud whumping.

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Avalanches: None.
Weather: Calm, clear, and warm!
Snowpack: See Profile

March-3rd-Snodgrass-Pit

Avalanches: Remotely triggered large persistent slab avalanche 150 feet away from small knoll to the slope below. Stepped out of skis to rip skins, as well as Evan arriving at same time. No collapse to initiate slide, no whoomps, just a silent, spooky, killer. Slide failed ~200ft wide, ran 1000ft down slope, breaking at a 29-30º slope, then rolling over to steeper, upper 30º degree terrain. Slab was F>1F hard, failing on F-hard 1-2mm facets, resting above 1F hard dense bed surface, with some crusts found on bed surface as we descended slide path.

Lots of evidence of prior avalanches on Schuykill, and lee terrain off Purple Ridge. Tried to get eyes on north side of Mount Baldy as observers reported very large avalanche running across Schofield Pass summer road.
Weather: Very warm temperatures below treeline, still chilly up high. TH temp was 26º at 1330. Westerly winds increased throughout afternoon into 30-40mph range.
Snowpack: Variable surface conditions, from breaker death crust to soft, cold, faceted surface powder. HS is..Deep, 250cm+. Misleading surface conditions lead you to believe the slab has “faceted out” or baked and crusted….but this is most definitely NOT the case. Several pits at various east facing elevations revealed widespread persistent slab structure with a 60-80cm slab resting on the double crust facet sandwich, or on colder, northerly slopes, a thin, but weak layer of 1-2mm buried near surface facets. Multiple and repeatable ECTP22, 24 Sudden Planar, and CTH SP.

Increasing westerly winds into 40mph range created moderate wind transported snow on lee terrain after 1500.

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Avalanches:
Weather: Sunny for most of the day, with high, pre-frontal clouds in the middle of the day. No precip, but plenty of strong radiation. Light winds with moderate gusts above 11,000’. It was plenty warm.
Snowpack: Snow surface continues to facet on northern aspects. We found several pockets of large SH in very sheltered areas. Sunny aspects had up to a 5cm MF crust on surface. No signs of instabilities were observed.