Observations

Date of Observation: 04/14/2022
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Axtell Zone

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Axtell 4th + 5th Bowl, Numerous D1’s failing on the dirty old snow just below the corniced ridgeline.
Started in ~40º Terrain + lost momentum as the slope lessened.
Weather: Cold + Overcast in AM
Wind picked up again in the late AM
Snowpack: BTL: More Dense from the wind than yesterday. Trees had about 30-40% of snow in their branches on N facing slopes.

Stomped off some fresh cornices at treeline on ~30º slopes

Many Aspects held firm surfaces where the dense wind slab sits. Dense over Dense, lacking an obvious weak layer.

5554

Date of Observation: 04/13/2022
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River Corridor to Pittsburg. Skied into the basin on east side of Schuylkill Peak.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: I observed a few small loose snow avalanches, two slab avalanches in wind-drifted terrain, and skier triggered two small wind slabs near treeline that were 12 to 18 inches deep. Poor visibility limited views into the Ruby Range.
Weather: Overcast skies, cool temperatures, and the constant westerly wind. Occasional light snowfall in the afternoon but no accumulations. During periods of improved visibility, there was a constant stream of blowing snow at upper elevations focusing on the easterly aspects.
Snowpack: At 10,500 feet I measured 12 inches of storm snow with 1.1″ SWE near Schuylkill Peak. In sheltered areas, I found storm snow without slab properties but a storm density change near the bottom of storm snow. Sheltered terrain could produce loose avalanches on very steep terrain. As soon as I found drifted terrain, I was able to produce shooting cracks up to 20 feet and easily triggered two small slabs on leeward rolls in the basin. Leeward features had drifts up to 2 feet thick. The triggered avalanches failed on the density change near the base of the storm snow.

Photos:

5553

Date of Observation: 04/13/2022
Name: daniel kreykes

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: California bowl

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Super sluffy new snow on crust on open E/NE slopes with supportive crusts. Only a concern on the steepest entrance pitches, but first turns entrained a fair amount of new snow and ran 250-300′ into trees.
Weather: Cold
Snowpack: Nice light pow on crust

5552

Date of Observation: 04/13/2022
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Splains + Axtell Region

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: none observed
Weather: cold, overcast, light intermittent snow. ~1cm over the day.
Increasing Howling winds -can hear the train through the Kebler corridor. Plumes up on red Lady glades & Evan’s Basin (see photo below). New snow ripped away, down to dirty corn.
Snowpack: 2″ overnight, Storm Total 9″-11″ observed.
BTL: No sign of windslab on N + E slopes, just good riding snow quality.
Tree bombs increased from Zero to Widespread as winds increased through out the day + the old growth swayed. No wind effect on snow in open clearings BTL that we skied, just in the tree tops.

Hearsay: Ran into a skier finishing on Axtell 1st Bowl. He said the snow was sluffing in the narrow chutes through the old growth. Then became windslab in the open (poor quality skiing but not reactive under their skis)

Photos:

5551

Date of Observation: 04/12/2022
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Splains to Carbon

Observed avalanche activity: No

Weather: Variable:
Carbon light winds w/ sun breaking thru making it feel mild
Under the Kebler Cloud cap: cold + snowy, light winds except in Kebler Corridor

Snowpack: No signs of instability on Wind sheltered slopes.
Did not venture into areas with strong winds.

BTL Intense wind transport in the Kebler corridor
BTL Slopes, all Aspects outside the corridor no wind transport

Storm snow was stuck remarkably well on moist, unfrozen, old snow surface.
Splains region 7″
Carbon region 2″

5549

Date of Observation: 04/12/2022
Name: Evan Ross Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Axtell, Northerly, 9,500ft to 11,500ft

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: In steep terrain near 40 degrees the new snow sluffed easily. Several natural loose snow avalanches in similar terrain. A few small pockets produced a very small slab. All avalanche activity was small in size.

Weather: This was an afternoon tour. Accumulating snowfall continued through the afternoon with a few breaks of clearing weather. Down valley winds were transporting snow, but we were hanging out in mostly wind sheltered areas.

Snowpack: 6 to 7 inches of new snow on average with some settlement through the day with the periods of sun popping out. On NE and E facing terrain the new snow was more noticeably thick and settling quicker. On steep due north facing terrain the riding conditions were the best with a deeper and dryer feel. No real slab avalanche problems were encountered in this mostly wind-sheltered terrain, and loose dry avalanches were the primary problem. Those avalanches were predictable and relatively easy to manage.

Photos:

5548

Date of Observation: 04/09/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on NE to SE aspects on Mt. Afley to 12,600 ft this morning, and a brief bino tour along Kebler Pass Road mid day.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Counted a handful of small wet loose avalanches on easterly aspects, a few of which ran yesterday and a few more that ran today, all D1 in size. See photos.
Weather: Thin cloud cover began filling in over the Ruby Range by late morning, with cloud cover holding off a little longer over the Anthracites and Axtell. Moderate westerly ridgetop winds. Warm temps.
Snowpack: Weaker overnight refreeze that was punchy to boot pen (~10″) on a number of slopes but still supportive to skis. We found ideal corn skiing on SE aspects at 10:30 a.m. By 11 a.m, ski pen was increasing to 5″ or 6″ in wet snow on east facing terrain near treeline. The arrival of thicker clouds by noon seemed to help moderate surface melt. Northeast aspects got moist in the upper 6″ or so, and produced a few small wet loose slides while most slopes on that aspect were too roughed up by previous winds to do much.

Photos:

5546

Date of Observation: 04/08/2022
Name: jeff banks

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Up Red Lady glades via old road to billboard
Down Bowl

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: 07:00 cold to 12:00 Mild on ridge lines + nearly calm
Snowpack: dense + firm in AM then softening nicely ~11:00
2-3inches of well bonded wind deposited up high, no signs of instability.
Fresh snow has not transformed enough to be great skiing until ~11,600 and then excellent, supportive corn to the valley floor.

5545

Date of Observation: 04/08/2022
Name: Travis Colbert

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Brush Creek TH to Teo (8,900-13,200ft); S, SW & SE aspects.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Shallow (10cm), slow-moving, but very heavy wet slides on every turn from the summit through the rocks. Ran (creeped really) 1,000ft or so. Traversed into SW terrain for the bottom half of the run to find more firm snow. We were descending around 1:15. Should have listened to Zach and got to the top by 12:30!
Weather: Upper teens to start, but rapidly warming into the 40’s by mid-day. Not a cloud in the ski and even less wind than forecasted (like none). Nearly took my pants off on the skate out because I was too hot!

CBAC Note:  Travis did win the Weston skis for most quality observations submitted this year. Thank you Travis, awesome job!  Good luck beating the corn window now that you’re anchored down by fatter, heavier skis.  

Photos:

5544

Date of Observation: 04/08/2022
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on E and SE aspects of Cinammon Mountain just before noon, and S to SW aspects shortly after noon. Tested some steep, low elevation E to NE slopes above the Slate River around 1 p.m.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Light northwest winds. Clear skies. Warm temps.
Snowpack: No signs of instabilities or avalanche problems observed. Ski, boot, and snowmobile penetration never got deeper than the top few inches of wet snow. Surfaces varied from 2″ to 3″ of recent storm snow, isolated drifts, thin wind board, or old melt-freeze crusts brought to the surface by wind erosion. All of these surfaces got wet or moist today but became cohesionless only in the top few inches. The moistening storm snow produced a few shallow rollerballs below treeline. The only types of slopes where it seemed there was potential to get any wet snow moving was on very dusty surfaces (where the snow was more brown than white). The dust expedited warming and caused ski/boot pen to decay to about 6″ in the afternoon. Good corn started around 11 a.m. on Southeast aspects and around noon on South aspects at 11-12k ft.

Photos:

5543