Location: Paradise Divide Area
Date of Observation: 11/26/2019
Name: Ian Havlick
Subject: Slate River Observations
Aspect: North East, East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: BTL
Avalanches:
some evidence of old dry loose avalanches with debris up to 6ft deep in the gully bottom of the upper slate drainage. Poor visibility limited observations within new snow and wind.
Weather: Cold with temperatures in the teens and dropping throughout our midday outing. NW winds were blustery and generally light BTL, but moderate gusts occasionally dropped windchills and visibilities. Snow intensified the farther from CB we traveled, with solid S2 midday and continuing when we departed. Accumulations from this round of snow was generally 2-4″ but closer to 6″ the farthest from town we traveled.
Snowpack: 3-6″ new, low-density cold smoke resting on November 20-22nd snowfall, and then in shady, northerly aspects BTL was the residual, rotten, faceted Halloween snowfall. Some shooting cracks in these rotten areas with deepest snowpacks and most windblown snow, failing in the newest storm snow (4-8″ deep). Harmless in terrain we traveled but likely deeper and more consequential at higher elevations.
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