Date of Observation: 03/16/2022
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Lower Snodgrass above the East River.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Did not observe any new avalanches.
Weather: Increasing cloud cover throughout the day. Light winds with mild air temperatures.
Snowpack: I went looking for signs of instability in terrain where the Persistent Slab problem has a thin slab and a weak layer that is not improving (shady slopes with a relatively shallow snowpack). I was able to get a few small collapses and shooting cracks up to 20 feet on a slope with previous avalanche activity. This slope had reformed a slab 40cm thick (a bit more than a foot) resting over the February facet layer. Stability tests on this slope and an adjacent slope, that has not avalanche (slab around 70cm thick), produced propagating results under moderate force. Obvious signs of instability are decreasing, BUT stability tests and upper snowpack structure on shaded slopes suggest that human triggered avalanches remain possible. The snow surface on all aspects below around 9,800 feet became moist in the afternoon.
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- A northeast-facing slope, with a thinner slab due to previous avalanche activity, produced a few collapses and shooting cracks up to 20 feet.
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- Propagating test results under moderate force on slope that has not avalanched.
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- Propagating test results under moderate force on a slope with a relatively thin slab resting above the February weak layer.
