Observations

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Irwin Guides

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Irwin Tenure

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Low loading patterns on W aspects BTL Reactive 8-10″ wind slabs to AS specific to terrain fetches which then transitioned into storm slabs by the afternoon. S aspects BTL stubborn wind slabs cracking but not running.
Ray SS-ASc-D1-I 12-14″ X 50′ X 75′
Weather: Extreme winds early this morning with periods of intense precipitation.
Snowpack: Study plot showed 8″ this morning and another 10″ today with 1.6″ SWE. Not confident in the snow total because of our friendly winds today. Felt more like a foot storm total.

6052

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Mark Robbins

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: the usual anthracites shots

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: third party member in ziggins rode a little further left than the first two, who skied right of the main gully with no reactivity. Entering the main gully right of the windlip/cornice, it broke, and while the rider cut right, it ran with fast energy the full track of ziggins to the bench. I didn’t see it but it sounds like most or all of the windlip broke and ran. Entrained storm snow but no other propagating or stepping down.

wind-lips on right side of big chute fractured with shooting cracks when skiing up to them. Stomped some off, which broke easily but didn’t run far and didn’t produce any results.
Weather: the wind was indeed violent, tho mellowed as the day went on. Snow was coming down heavy most of the time, with the skin track partially to fully filled in between laps with new snowfall and wind transport.
Snowpack: Thick 8 inches of new snow with a little graupel in the mix, with an additional 4-6 or so increasingly fluffy snow falling during the day.

6051

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Afternoon tour. Traveled up the southeast shoulder of Gothic to 11,500′ looking for wind slab feedback, and on east and northeast aspects of Snodgrass to monitor below treeline terrain.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Visibility of the surrounding terrain was very limited
Weather: Whiteout conditions mid-day with blowing snow and moderate snowfall rates. Both eased through the afternoon.
Snowpack: About 5″ or 6″ of storm snow in wind-sheltered terrain, with drifts up to 18″ as I climbed into exposed, near treeline slopes with decent-sized fetches. It was easy to trigger numerous shooting cracks while skinning across the top of small, drifted terrain features. Drifts were typically 10″ to 16″ thick soft slabs, breaking on or near the storm interface.
No signs of instability below treeline except for an isolated wind drift in an obviously drifted area. A test pit on an ENE aspect produced a hard, non-propagating failure (ECTN26) on small, rounding facets about 75 cm deep.

Photos:

6050

Date of Observation: 02/28/2023
Name: billy barr

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: The wind continues to be the predominant weather feature holding steady and strong 10-15 westerly with gusts to 25. Only light but steady snow through the night with 3″ new and water 0.24″. Currently very light snowfall with no visibility and 64″ of snow on the ground as the wind shows no sign of letting up. Ever. Temperatures hold mild with a high of 26F yesterday and low today 14 with the current 16. Lots of snow transport- break a trail and turn around and it is gone. billy

6049

Date of Observation: 02/27/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett and Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Hunter Creek

Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: The snowpack easily supported the weight of our sleds on most features, on many aspects and elevations. The only places we found a mostly weak snowpack were a) below 9,500′ in the valley bottom, b) a very shallow wind-swept spot on a ridge where we punched through the surface slab, c) and odd patches of weak snow near trees or creeks.
We could not find full-depth faceted areas like what has been reported on the steep-walled valleys on the north side of the Elk Mountains.
We found 140-160cm of snow at valley bottom in middle Cement Creek at 10,200′; 170-190cm near treeline; and up to 300cm in alpine features with cross-loading.
The layer of facets buried around Valentines lurked around 30 to 40cm deep, generally 4-finger stiff. Only where we targeted a shallow-depth south-facing spot did we elicit a hard propagating test result. Otherwise tests did not propagate. We experienced no collapsing or cracking. The slab on this upper-snowpack weak layer was 1-finger to pencil hard in wind-drifted areas, and 4-finger hard in wind-sheltered spots.

Photos:

6047

Date of Observation: 02/27/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traversed from Ohio Pass through the Playground to the south side of the Anthracite Range to Beaver Ponds, traveling on various aspects to 11,500′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: A few minor loose dry avalanches in the fresh snow. Eric spotted a few small wind slabs in the Whetstone area this morning.
Weather: Mostly cloudy, with a few flurries with minimal accumulation and light winds. About 4″ of new snow past 24 hours.
Snowpack: Hunting for persistent slab issues today in terrain features that might hold weaker or more developed facets in the upper snowpack. Test results on a wind-exposed northerly facing slope near treeline did not produce any notable results (ECTN) on small-grained facets about 2 feet deep. On an east-facing slope near treeline, I got hard, propagating results on a layer of small-grained facets (.3mm, 4F, rounding) about 2 feet deep, below a 4F+ slab. We did not experience any signs of instability throughout the tour, with ski and skinning traffic on similar types of slopes.
Snow surfaces are currently fairly low-density precip particles (~10%) that got moist on the sunniest aspects BTL.

Photos:

6046

Date of Observation: 02/26/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Targeting below treeline terrain in the shallowest parts of our forecast area. Looked at the snowpack on various aspects of Red Mountain and Point Lookout to about 9,800′

Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: An inch or two of new snow fell today. I observed some light drifting on open, below treeline slopes.
Snowpack: I traveled in areas where the snowpack is less than about 4 feet deep. The slab is generally faceted, but I was able to produce one unstable result on deep weak layers (the 12/20 facet layer, below a 4F 80cm slab). The upper snowpack also has weak layers of concern, the largest and most developed is the late January facet layer, which is only buried 25 cm or less. I got a mix of propagating and non-propagating results on this layer, the most reactive results were on an ESE aspect. The slab above that layer is lacking or not well developed in most terrain, but this could be more of an issue with additional snowfall.

Photos:

6045

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Skinning under a benched ridge line.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Weather: Mostly sunny

Photos:

6043

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023
Name: Rob Strickland

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: PBR

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small wind slab: ATL > east
Weather: Delightful
Snowpack: Deep, calm, and warming

Photos:

6042

Date of Observation: 02/25/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Recreational day out Upper Cement Creek/Brush Creek

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One recent natural avalanche on the northeast side of Double Top. The north Bowl on Cement Mountain had debris in the basin but the crown looked well drifted in (see photo). The northeast cirque on Carbon Peak had suspicious-looking crown markings but the photo was inconclusive (see photo).  No other obvious large avalanches were observed looking into SE mountains from the head of Hunter Creek.
Weather: Thin high clouds, mild air temps, and moderate winds above treeline.
Snowpack: Solar aspects became moist at mid to low elevations by the afternoon; some roller ball activity. Recent storm totals settled to around 10-12 inches at the head of Hunter Creek.

Photos:

6041