Date of Observation: 12/02/2022
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: NE all day. Started at 9600′ up to 10,800′
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Vis was poor on the sled ride up but we had one window which I noticed a disturbance in the snow BTL on a NE aspect. I assumed it was debris from a long-running slide path off the uphill ridge. Without binoculars, too hard to tell. On our ascent, we (obviously) felt, heard, and saw many signs of an incredibly unstable snowpack. Again, “touchy” is the word. Once on the ridge, above a suspect slope which is barely 30 degrees, one of my ski partners very easily kicked off a small slide which gouged to ground and funneled into the trees. Although not a large avalanche due to slope angle and terrain feature, it would have been a scary ride. On the ascent for our the second lap, we triggered another storm slab from about 100′ vertical below. Slab moved about 1′ at the apex and fractured most of the adjacent terrain (to ground), but low slope angle and small area meant that it didn’t quite have enough energy to fully rip.
Weather: Blustery and snowy
Snowpack: Most pole probes went to about 60cm on average. Relatively dense storm snow on top of garbage. Downhill was fun.
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