Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Slate River
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: This avalanche ran late on 4/1. Natural or a remote trigger.
Photos:
6188
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Mt Emmons. Redwell Tour.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A wide propagating slab on an easterly aspect into Redwell Basin. 11,600ft. D2. Avalanche debris looked soft so I’d estimate it ran yesterday during the storm.
A fresh cornice fell in redwell basin, probably ran this morning or at the end of the storm. D2.
A fresh cornice fell in the Climax Chutes, probably ran this morning or at the end of the storm. D1.5
Roller balls and some small loose wet avalanches around the solar half of the compass.
Weather: Clear sky, rising temps. Calm winds down low and light winds in the alpine.
Snowpack: At 10,800ft on the South side of Mt Emmons the recent HST was 35cm. We climbed the south side of Mt Emmons while the snow was just warming, then skied dry snow of the West and north sides. By the time we hit OBJ and changed both aspects and elevation the snow surface was wet. This tour was for good snow and avoided the avalanche problems.
Photos:
6186
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Several D2 wind slabs on Avery and Gothic that ran yesterday. Numerous small wet loose today (D1s). And of course the very large persistent slab off of Gothic, which triggered an additional persistent slab crown below the cliff band.
Weather: Clear skies, mild temps, occasional light drifting near wind exposed summits.
Photos:
6185
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Viewed from Mt. CB
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: A large persistent slab (D2.5) on a shallow, east-facing slope on East Beckwith looks like it ran yesterday. Several wind slabs D1-D2, mostly yesterday, one today. A large cornice fall today (D2). Numerous small wet loose today (D1s).
Weather: Clear skies, mild temps, occasional light drifting near wind exposed summits.
Photos:
6184
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Travis Colbert
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: A couple of laps at Coney’s via a semi-standard route. 9,600-10,800 feet, ENE aspect.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: D1 wind slab in steep, cross-loaded WSW terrain on Gothic that looked pretty fresh.
Weather: Clear and calm. Temps in the teens at 9AM, quickly climbing to tropical by 11AM.
Snowpack: 6-8″ new snow. Cold and dry at the start, but rapidly transforming to wet and sticky in a couple of hours.
Photos:
6183
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: Travis Guy and billy barr
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Very large persistent slab on the east face of Gothic. Slide ran after 4 p.m. yesterday. It did not reach the county road anywhere but did hit an RMBL cabin though right at the end of a side shoot off the main run. so it looks like it may be OK. But it’s buried so who knows.
Photos:
6182
Date of Observation: 04/01/2023
Name: billy barr
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Gothic townsite
Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Light to moderate snow Friday morning with light afternoon snow and steady wind with strong gusts as it remained cloudy all day. Wind slowed after dark, becoming light just before sunrise with gradual clearing after midnight. Total new 24 hour snowfall was 5½” new with water 0.38″. Snowpack reached 95½” (a record depth for March 31) and now sits at 94½” with a partly cloudy sky and just a light breeze. March ended with 102½” snowfall with water of 9.24″- 4th most snow in a March and second most water content since 1975. And just think- we were all here to shovel through it.
6181
Date of Observation: 03/31/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Baxter Basin area; traveled on North to East to Southeast aspects to about 11,000′.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Ski triggered a 10″ wind slab on a small test slope. Visibility was too poor to see most avalanche terrain.
Weather: Moderate to heavy snowfall. Strong, variable winds. They were initially blowing down the basin (out of the west) and then switched to blowing up the basin (out of the north). Periods of intense wind drifting.
Snowpack: Valley floor storm totals ranged from about 10″ at the Slate TH to 20″ in Poverty Gulch. In wind-sheltered terrain, the snow was fairly low density and cohesionless, and sluffed in steep terrain. The snow got noticeably thicker and denser in wind-affected terrain. Drifts were up to 3 feet thick in some areas, and other areas were scoured down to yesterday’s crust. I got a mix of shooting cracks and nothing on steep drifted features. Cracks were up to 30′ long.
Photos:
6179
Date of Observation: 03/30/2023
Name: Eric Murrow
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Traveled above the East River just up valley from the confluence with Brush Creek.
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: One slab avalanche that ran in the upper snowpack that likely failed during warming a few days ago on low elevation east slope. Intentionally triggered a Windslab on a small northwest-facing slope near valley bottom, this feature has an abnormally huge fetch. Wind Slab was resting above 1mm facets above a crust.
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with moderate winds through 2pm. Snowfall and strong SSW winds started around 3pm.
Snowpack: HS through this low-elevation terrain typically ranged from 90 to 120cm outside of drifted terrain. A quick profile on a south-southeast slope at 9,100 feet showed a strong structure with ice columns to the ground which indicated meltwater has made its way through the entire snowpack (this strong structure is not common throughout the greater forecast area). A profile into the bed surface of the intentionally trigger slide, on a drifted northwest slope, showed a 10″ thick crust/ice column matrix resting about 2 feet of depth hoar. Surface conditions on northerly features were a thin melt/freeze crust with 6 inches of faceted snow below.
Photos:
6178
Date of Observation: 03/30/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Rec tour on Axtell 2nd Bowl
Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: Clouds increased mid-morning, as did winds. Drifting off of the high peaks.
Snowpack: No signs of instability skiing steep northerly terrain below treeline.
Thin (2-3cm) breakable (1F- to 4F-) crusts span east to due northeast (45 degrees) in steep terrain. This storm interface doesn’t look as bad as the 3/20 interface, but I don’t expect new snow to bond well to these crusts. There is a thin layer of small-grained (~.5mm) near surface facets above the crust. This layer gets thicker (up to 5 mm thick) moving towards northeast, while the crust gets softer and thinner. Anything north of 45 degrees held dry, settled powder with minor surface faceting (~.3mm) and minimal sluffing.
Photos:
6177
