Date of Observation: 12/20/2015
Name: Irwin Guides
Aspect:
Elevation:
Avalanches:
Weather: Wx station still down. Obscured sky all day with periods of S‐5 snow. Moderate to strong winds all day, more SW in the morning and W toward the PM.
1‐3” tonight, 1‐3” tomorrow West winds 15‐25 mph.
Snowpack: 8” of new settled to 6”. Lots of minimal surface cracking in today’s new snow due to the intensity and wind. Last week’s snow is becoming more cohesive still. Likely due to warm days and now cold + settlement. Many cracks in steeper roles going full depth, especially near and below treeline (Knob steep, Cocktail), propagation is less (20‐60’) and the slab just doesn’t seem able to pull out. This will be a concern with new snow in the coming days. We are at 2.5” of H2O in the past 6 days.
Newly formed slabs are showing clean shears on crusts in sunny areas. Fast ski cuts are not effective. Heavy dolphin‐ing is the only way to penetrate the slab, and is becoming more and more difficult.