Date of Observation: 12/25/2015
Name: Zach Guy
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: Below treeline
Avalanches: The only piece of avalanche terrain that we came across had slid naturally. NE aspect below treeline that ran before last night’s snowfall. 2-3 feet deep, on basal facet layer. SS-N-R2-D2-O. Partial clearing in the p.m. revealed what looked like several new slides near Red Ridge/ White Rock area, coming off of SW or S aspects above treeline. Debris piles were ~D2 in size, crowns obscured by clouds.
Weather: Light snowfall, with a couple of inches of accumulation by mid day. Winds began increasing around noon, with moderate gusts and blowing snow below treeline. Overcast skies began clearing to broken later in the day.
Snowpack: ~6″ of new snow overnight. Persistent slab was noticeably denser from settlement compared to my tour 12/23 on Anthracite Mesa, more supportive on skis, 5-10″ settlement cones. Collapses were fewer in frequency, but louder and longer running. SCARY. Often it would take jumping on the snowpack to initiate collapses, whereas 2 days ago they were going while simply ski touring. Structure was consistent across all terrain, about 30″ of slab, increasing in hardness with depth, over hollow facets.