Snodgrass shuffle

Date of Observation: 02/28/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Standard Snodgrass up-track and descended 3rd bowl area.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Lots of natural activity from the cycle last week. Most ran early in the storm with crowns well filled in and a few that ran towards the end. Many slopes greater than 35 degrees ran naturally, but not all start zones had evidence of recent avalanche activity. I suspect some features endured the loading event due to previous skier traffic. I skier-triggered a tiny loose avalanche on a steep, below treeline feature on southeast aspect at 1pm. Numerous small wet loose avalanches were visible on the east side of Gothic Mountains. They all began from rocky features; I’m uncertain if they occurred today or yesterday.
Weather: Clear skies and warm temperatures. Calm winds below treeline.
Snowpack: Southerly slopes soften before noon and I was able to produce a small wet loose avalanche at 1 pm. The top few inches were wet with couple inches of moist snow before the old crust.
On northerly terrain, I experienced a few moderately-sized collapses in low angle meadows. The slab resting above the February near surface facets was around 18″ thick and up to 1 finger hard. Two test profiles produced moderate propagating test results (ECTP 14,16). The weak layer is about 6 inches thick of fist hard 2mm facets. Signs of instability were less common than expected, but many lower angled slopes I traveled across appeared to have shattered during the loading event so that may have reduced the signs of instability. Surfaces hoar was present on N and NE slopes around 3-5mm in size.