Deer Creek

Date of Observation: 02/16/2021
Name: Evan Ross Zach Kinler

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: Deer Creek
Aspect: North East, East, South East
Elevation: 9,000-10,600

Avalanches: Whetstone Mountain had a fresh large avalanche on the flank of the M Face. ENE aspect at 11,400ft. Wind-loading off the ridge likely added the extra load for this avalanche to release today.

2 notable avalanches in the Deer Creek area that haven’t yet been reported. These both ran around last Friday/Saturday. They both released on weak faceted snow about 40cm’s off the ground. Small PSa on an East Aspect at 10,400ft. A large PSa on a NE aspect at 10,500ft. That large PSa had a crown height of 6 feet or 2 meters!! Of course it has some extra wind-loading but this was a below treeline slope.

A couple wide propagating persistent slabs on the NE side of MT CB at 9,600ft. Not sure if those are related or CBMR operations or naturals.

Weather: Mostly cloudy sky, with orographic clouds rolling through and producing snow. An inch or 2 of new snow accumulation today, onto of about 2 to 3 inches from last night. Calm to light winds.

Snowpack: We were shooting for a shallower snowpack to check on the Persistent Slab Sensitivity. We found the snowpack height we were looking for, but we sure didn’t mind much for a reactive PSa. We traveled in areas with an average HS of 80 to 120cm. Below about 9,800ft the snowpack was mostly unsupportable unless there was old wind board or a good crust. Near and above 10,000ft there was a cohesive slab sitting above a weak faceted base. We got one good rumbling collapse with some extra effort, otherwise nothing, quiet. The PSa structure was clearly identifiable, but the sensitivity of the problem turned out to be stubborn. We primary traveled on NE, E, SE aspects.