Observations

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour this morning on Purple Peak, traveling on southerly an northeast aspects up to 12,800′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Two new alpine cornice falls since I was last in this area on the afternoon of 4/7 (D1.5 and D3) and a recent glide avalanche off of rocks on West Beckwith (D1.5)
Weather: Mid-level clouds passed overhead a few times but still lots of solar input. Light winds.
Snowpack: High northerly aspects held dry, stable powder. Surfaces were well-frozen this morning at all elevations. By 11:30 a.m., rollerballs and pinwheels started coming off of rock bands on east aspects NTL as the top few inches got wet. Good corn skiing at that time on southeast NTL. Above treeline south has only seen meltwater go a few inches deep during the last few days. On below treeline south, there were timber sled tracks sinking in about 10″.

Photos:

6212

Date of Observation: 04/09/2023
Name: Turner Petersen

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: seen in person from Hidden Mine Gate at base of Whetstone

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Small point release opened up to very large full snowpack wetslab on an East aspect of Gibson Ridge. A moment before I noticed how much dust was on this due-east slope. This slid at 1220pm Sunday.
Weather: Sunny. Hot.
Snowpack: Dusty. Hot.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]

6210

Date of Observation: 04/08/2023
Name: Eric Murrow

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Washington Gulch to Mount Baldy’s sunny side.

Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: Decent views into the Ruby Range did not reveal any new cornice falls.
Weather: Increasing cloudiness late morning turned to sporadic snow showers midday. Mild temperatures and moderate SW wind in the afternoon at ridgetop.
Snowpack: Cloudiness limited the Wet Loose avalanche concerns in the area I traveled. Surface crusts softened but didn’t break down during the day. I dug a couple of test profiles looking at east and southeast features – the snowpack generally looks strong in the upper snowpack given the number of crusts and ice columns from recent warm weather. Faceting above a late March crust, on two different slopes (E and SE), appears to be a potential failure plane if flooded by meltwater. Northeasterly slopes below treeline have several soft crusts, with dry snow between, in the upper 18 inches of the snowpack that could be available for entrainment once the water production resumes in the coming days.

Photos:

6209

This week’s snowpack summary is here.  The week brought a potent wind event with modest storm totals, a prominent dust layer, and more large cornice falls.

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Emma Vosburg

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Anthracites playground

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: South facing wet slide in the playground behind the anthracites. Human triggered slide on the dust/crust layer.
Started small and picked up speed to the bottom of the slope ~ 300ft down
Weather: 4/6. 2:30pm. 30 degrees no wind blue skies

Photos:

6208

Date of Observation: 04/07/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Scarp Ridge to Peeler Peak and out OBJ basin, traveling on various aspects to 12,200′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several more large cornice falls that ran sometime in the past couple of days. An uptick in small wet loose activity today, generally on the southern half of the compass at higher elevations and the most action below treeline on east to northeast aspects. We skier triggered a couple of small wet loose slides on northeast aspects below treeline.
Weather: Warm, clear all morning with cloud cover increasing this afternoon.
Snowpack: About 6″ of settled storm snow over the dusty storm interface. The snow became wet on all but NE to NW aspects N/ATL and due north BTL. A pit on a SE aspect NTL in Peeler Basin produced propagating results about 2 feet deep down on the 3/30 interface, a faceted crust. There are several crusts in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack that could pose a concern for wet slab issues if we see a rapid influx of meltwater next week. Currently only the recent storm snow is wet and the 4/3 crust remained frozen except for low elevation southerlies.

Photos:

6207

Date of Observation: 04/07/2023
Name: Sam Lesnikoski

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Up over daisy pass, ascended the saddle between Richmond and Hancock to Hancock summit, back over daisy to baxter

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Cornice fall and associated shallow slab on Hancock/Richmond saddle, ran yesterday? Small skier triggered wet sluffs on lower, more easterly facing Hancock benches. Innumerable natural wet slides and sluffs running on dust, all fairly small.
Weather: Sunny and hot with increasing cloud cover by afternoon
Snowpack: Dry and pleasant snow on high northerlies, anything with a bit of east in it was wet by around 11.

Photos:

6206

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mineral Point

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several D1 to D2 wind slabs ran during the storm, some related to cornice fall. See photos and details below.

Photos:

6205

Date of Observation: 04/06/2023
Name: Zach Guy

Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Traveled on various aspects on Mineral Point and Cascade to 12,500′.

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Numerous small dry loose avalanches ran today on northerly terrain, and we ski-triggered more of the same (D1). A couple small wet loose ran on an E/SE aspect BTL of Cascade (D1). Several large cornice falls failed sometime since the storm ended, past 48 hours (D2). Several D1 to D2 wind slabs ran during the storm, some related to cornice fall. See photos and details below, the storm-related avalanches are coded in a separate ob.
Weather: Clear skies, calm winds, cold temps near zero this morning rising to 20F at 12k midday.
Snowpack: There’s about a foot of fairly dense storm snow near and above treeline in the Ruby Range with signs of previous drifting. The snow appears to be bonding well to the storm interface, based on targeted feedback from numerous steep test features. We got some shallow cracking a few inches deep from the most recent drifting. The snow stayed dry on northerlies, got a little moist on easterlies, and just the surface got wet on southerlies. The dust is resurfacing on low-elevation southerlies near town.

Photos:

6204

Date of Observation: 04/05/2023
Name: Ben Pritchett

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Cement Creek to Hunter Creek to Star Pass

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One small cornice-triggered D1 slab in the Timbered Hill Chutes, which looked like it ran Sunday at the end of the last warm-up. The cornice chunks and debris gouged like the snow was wet a the time.
Weather: Broken skies, flat light, cold temperatures, and nearly calm westerly winds.
Snowpack: Below treeline, the snowpack on all aspects has undergone 4 melt-freeze cycles in the last month (2x in early March, the beginning of the March 20 storm, and late March warm-up). These crusts had water percolate between them repeatedly, making for a very stout upper snowpack structure now. Even at the upper elevations of this elevation band on shady slopes where thin crusts formed, we found no weak layers of concern.

6203