Date of Observation: 02/24/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: CB Nordic Hill. NE aspect
Observed avalanche activity: No
Snowpack: The “2022 total BS drought sandbox layer” continues to show unusual behavior. On the Nordic Hill, we systematically trafficked and sluffed that layer before the storm, and got numerous shooting cracks, collapses, and mini slabs when we worked it Tuesday afternoon halfway through the storm. This morning, we got repeat collapses in some areas that had already been worked. Cracks were shooting along old ski tracks and doing some wild things I haven’t seen on that slope before. This is the worst mid-winter near surface facet layer that I can recall in my career, based on what I’ve seen the last few days. The slabs aren’t extraordinary, but the weak layer is. I think Evan’s ob from Tuesday of a quarter mile wide avalanche under a 12” soft slab really captures the challenging nature of this layer.
