Date of Observation: 03/11/2023
Name: Irwin Guides Cat-Ski
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Guides cat-ski tenure
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Avalanche observations: HST responsive to AE, unresponsive to AS
Long HS-AE-R1-D1.5-I DF (30cm x 10m x 135m)
Way Long HS-AE-R1-D2-I MF (30cm x 20m x 135m)
Thorton’s HS-AE-R1-D1.5-I MF (50cm x 20m x 115m)
Bender HS-AE-R1-D1.5-S DF (15cm x 10m x 125m)
Flaming Ferrari HS-AE-R1-D1-S DF (20cm x 5m x 50m)
Weather: “We are currently HST: 28/3.2″ with more snow in the forecast. We also cracked a 100″ base today, which is nice.
The latest round of precip came with an extreme SW wind event, which is less nice. Last night we registered 5 hours of wind gusts from 35-48 at our base area study plot at 10.4k.”
Snowpack: This wind event combined with a warming trend during the storm produced widespread hardness inversions that were responsive to AE, but not to AS. A most uninspiring structure.