The marmot saw his shadow today at Cement Creek

CBACCBAC Observations

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

Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Various aspects of Cement Creek, out to Tilton Pass to 12,000′

Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Nothing today. A handful of D1 to D2 slab avalanches that likely ran during the most recent storm, all breaking in the upper snowpack and on near and above treeline slopes where there was wind drifting.
Weather: Beautiful day. Clear skies, light wind, inverted temps this morning.
Snowpack: Rode on more than a dozen small steep test slopes, mostly below treeline and a few drifted features near treeline without any signs of instability under the sled. Several stability tests suggest the most recent storm snow is unreactive in wind protected terrain. On a drifted south-facing slope, I got unstable results on a crust/facet layer about 45-50 cm deep under a 4F slab. One test in a shallow area (HS 85cm) produced a non-propagating failure on large-grained facets near the ground. Snow depths ranged from 80 cm at the trailhead to over 200 cm in the upper basin.

Photos:

[/gravityforms]
5959