Shallow pockets

CBAC2020-21 Observations

Date of Observation: 03/11/2021
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: BTL

Avalanches: On a NE aspect BTL, I skier triggered a couple of shallow soft slabs breaking on the recently buried near-surface facets, that then plowed deeper into the weak snowpack. 6″ thick, D1 in size, ran a few hundred feet.
Snowpack: Quick tour to hone in on the distribution of persistent weak layers below treeline near town before the upcoming storm. Generally, anywhere that the current conditions are soft (northeast aspects), there are .5mm to 1.0 mm facets below recent snow and in some cases, thin soft crusts. The crusts become thicker and should handle more of a load on due east or anything south of that. The transition from good to bad happens around ENE.

 

Photos: