Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Dave Koz
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: From Irwin
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: significant slide off the SE face of Ruby
Photos:
5410
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: A look at natural avalanches on Climax Chutes. Several of these avalanches were reported in an observation on Wednesday.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Widespread mid-storm avalanche cycle in Climax Chutes. Per a previous observation, most of these likely ran early Wednesday morning. Thin cloud cover obscured good views of crowns, but aprons below each Climax Chute had a substantial amount of debris with two paths creating very large debris piles. Small portions of some features may not have failed, but overall Climax looks to have cleaned out a major portion of the storm snow.
Weather: Just hazy enough to muck up clear photos of the start zones Friday morning.
Snowpack:
Photos:
5409
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Natural avalanches visible from Elkton Knob
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A bit ol’ pile of natural avalanches from east and northeast slopes near Schuylkill Peak.
Weather: Efficient wind-loading on upper elevation terrain.
Snowpack:
Photos:
5408
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobile out Slate River to just past Pittsburg. Ascended west and southwest terrain to Elkton Knob. Descended the same terrain.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: In this terrain, there were numerous natural avalanche midstorm (partially filled bed surfaces) on west-facing below treeline terrain, generally D1.5 with one D2. We remotely triggered a steep west rollover from several hundred feet away.
Weather: Light snowfall and obscured skies in the AM gave way to mostly clear skies by 4pm. Overnight new snow accumulations around 2 inches. Westerly winds were transporting good amounts of snow above treeline and some near treeline.
Snowpack: Lots of loud collapsing on the February “drought layer” beneath the recent storm snow. Some collapses ran several hundred feet and shattered slopes less than 30 degrees. One collapse was able to connect to a small, steep rollover releasing a small avalanche 70cm deep. Westerly slopes tilted to the south had a thin melt/freeze crust capping the horrendous weak layer and northerly-tilted west slopes had the slab resting directly on the weak facets. Both structures behaved very similarly with long-running collapses. West-facing terrain below treeline is very much in the bullseye for human-triggered avalanches.
Photos:
5407
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Wash Gulch to Top of the World
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous D2-D2.5 avalanches failing on the mid-February junk show with brief views towards the Ruby Range. Lots of action on E-NE facing slopes. Looking at crowns, most likely failed on 2/22 and 2/23. A couple looked to have failed a bit more recent due to ongoing wind loading.
Weather: Cold and Blustery, clearing skies throughout the day
Snowpack:
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5406
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Wash Gulch to Top of the World
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous D2-D2.5 avalanches failing on the mid-February junk show with brief views towards the Ruby Range. Lots of action on E-NE facing slopes. Looking at crowns, most likely failed on 2/22 and 2/23 with 1 very sharp looking crown that likely failed sometime in the last 24 hours.
Weather: Cold and Blustery, clearing skies throughout the day
Snowpack:
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5405
Date of Observation: 02/25/2022
Name: Zach Guy and Zach Kinler
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Snowmobiled Washington Gulch, skied in Rock Creek area. Traveled on low slope angles on east, south, and west aspects to 11,500 ft.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Where to start…. Extensive slab activity on almost every steep bit of E and NE terrain from Meridian Lake to Elkton Knob. A lot of this was previously documented in obs from Eric and Billy. However, I counted at least 3 or 4 slides that looked fresh, likely ran last night or yesterday from wind drifting. These were on E to NE aspects NTL, ~D2 in size. Same story in Rock Creek: extensive activity near and below treeline on E to N aspects. The SE bowl above Rock Creek also ran mid-storm; crown was blown back in but we could see D2 debris. We also got a late afternoon peak of the Ruby Range in poor light and saw a number of large crowns, D2.5 on average, some looked quite fresh. Kinler will submit those in a separate ob.
Weather: Cold temps. We observed periods of light to moderate drifting in the alpine from westerly winds. Clouds decreased through the day.
Snowpack: Measured 65 cm slab in a sheltered, BTL location in Rock Creek. Almost every time I rode into an open slope in Wash Gulch I saw extensive shooting cracks under my sled, some ran several hundred feet. Signs of instability became infrequent as we transitioned to skis near treeline; slabs are stiffer from wind effects and I think we were also traveling in an area where winds had beat up the weak layer. Once we descended to treeline, rumbling collapses became frequent again. In some cases, it was the 2nd or 3rd person to cross the slope that would trigger the collapse.
Photos:
5404
Date of Observation: 02/26/2022
Name: Frank Stern
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Town Ranch to CBMR — GMT course
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Frequent settling, shooting cracks. Several small slides, W, E
Weather: Partly cloudy
Photos:
5401
Date of Observation: 02/24/2022
Name: Mary Nolan
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Coney’s
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A couple of fresh slab avalanches that ran today on the northwest side of Snodgrass, BTL
Weather:
Snowpack: Collapse and shooting cracks on a 30 degree slope, NE aspect.
5400
Date of Observation: 02/24/2022
Name: Zach Kinler Eric Murrow
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Short tour up Elk Creek via ridge, then up to the Anthracites, standard skin track to ridge.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Phew…Most avalanches paths facing northeast and east in Elk Creek avalanched. Some ran during the middle of the storm and others very recently with just an inch or two on the bed surface, mostly D1.5 with several D2s. East-facing natural in the 7 sisters area above Kebler Pass road, D1.5. We also remotely triggered a few small pockets that mother nature left hanging for us, D1s. At the Anthracites there was a D2 midslope in East Bowl (failed mid storm), a natural D1.5 on a southeast slope that ran Thursday morning (no snow on bed surface, and failed above the crust), and we remotely triggered a D2 at the very top of East Bowl with a little bit of hunting for the trigger point at ridgetop. Many other slopes near the Anthracite skin track appeared to have avalanched early in the storm and refilled, hard to say for certain but there was slight texture below many steep slopes.
Weather: Blustery, temps in the teens, WNW winds were light with moderate gusting near tree line and on exposed ridges. Peeks of sun here and there but low clouds shrouded alpine areas.
Snowpack: On shady slopes, in Elk Creek, the storm snow was around 18 inches deep and produced numerous collapses. Signs of instability were obvious, but most of the steep terrain already avalanched. At the Anthracites storm snow was 24 to 30 inches deep with the bottom portion of the slab at 4 finger hardness. Signs of instability were harder to come by here as the slab was thicker, but I would NOT call it stubborn to human triggers…more like the sirens calling you into the rocks on the Aegean Sea. We poked around on south and southeast features in the area and did not find signs of instability with hasty hand pits that seemed to point at reasonable bonding between crust and storm snow. Crusts were 4 to 5 inches thick below 2 feet of storm snow. We did not inspect any drifted sunny features.
Photos:
5399
