| Subject | Naturals on Baldy |
|---|---|
| Date | 10/27/2021 |
| Forecast Zone | Northwest Mountains |
| Route Description | Emerald Bowl. Traveled on E and NE aspects to 11,800' |
| Did you see any avalanches? | Yes |
| Avalanches | A natural cycle avalanches, D1 to D2 in size, came off of Baldy's Emerald Bowl sometime in the past 12 hours. Likely wind slabs, although the start zones were already blown smooth again. Also a small windslab ran today on Bellview. |
| Weather | Cold and blustery. Moderate to strong northwest winds were actively transporting snow all day at all elevations. Mostly cloudy skies with a few light snow showers. |
| Snowpack | Several red flags pointed towards dangerous conditions at upper elevations today: fresh naturals, active windloading, storm totals approaching 12", and shooting cracks in wind drifted slopes. Drifts were generally 2 to 3' thick, up to 4F hard. In windsheltered(ish) terrain, I did not see evidence of storm slab instabilities; no cracking and no unstable test results. The 8" to 12" storm snow was fist hard, right-side-up on top of fist hard, 1mm facets (NE aspects) or crust/facet sandwiches (East) |
| Photo Gallery | |
| Detailed Avalanche Observations | |
| Estimated avalanche date | 10/27/2021 |
| Number of avalanches | 3 |
| Location | Mount Baldy |
| Start zone elevation | ATL: Above Tree Line |
| Aspect | NE |
| Trigger | Natural |
| Type | Soft Slab |
| Failure plane | Unknown |
| Relative Size | R1 very small |
| Destructive Size | D1.5 |
| Avg. Vertical run (feet) | 600 |
| Additional Comments | Emerald Bowl. Most likely wind slabs; crowns obscured by recent drifting. |
| Detailed Avalanche Observations | |
| Estimated avalanche date | 10/27/2021 |
| Number of avalanches | 1 |
| Location | Mount Baldy |
| Start zone elevation | ATL: Above Tree Line |
| Aspect | NE |
| Trigger | Natural |
| Type | Soft Slab |
| Failure plane | Unknown |
| Relative Size | R2 small |
| Destructive Size | D2 - could bury, injure, or kill a person |
| Avg. Vertical run (feet) | 1800 |
| Additional Comments | Emerald Bowl. Most likely a wind slabs; crown obscured by recent drifting. |
| Detailed Avalanche Observations | |
| Estimated avalanche date | 10/27/2021 |
| Number of avalanches | 1 |
| Location | Schofield Pass/Rustler Gulch |
| Start zone elevation | ATL: Above Tree Line |
| Aspect | S |
| Trigger | Natural |
| Type | Soft Slab |
| Failure plane | Within storm snow |
| Relative Size | R1 very small |
| Destructive Size | D1- Relatively harmless to people |
| Additional Comments | Bellview |
| Detailed Avalanche Observations | |
| Detailed Avalanche Observations |
