Snow Observations List

This afternoon my group of 4 was riding up out of Tepee Creek heading towards Cabin Creek and I set off this small slide on a northeast facing slope as I was coming down it. The slide broke about a foot deep on top of the packed layer of snow and was 150-200' wide at the crown. Thankfully it slid slowly, less than 100' and I was able to ride out of it. 

There was 9” of new snow at higher elevations compared to 4” at the parking lot, and what was accurately reported at Shower Falls SNOTEL. We saw strong winds blowing huge plumes of snow off Maid of the Mist proper. Spindrift and wind-loading into gullies, near ridgelines and other slopes exposed to the wind was our primary concern. We dug two snowpits, one in the Basin low on a north facing slope and another on the south-facing shoulder. We got ECTNs in both. We found the 2-3" thick layer of facets and surface hoar on the south-facing pit buried 3' deep. They propagated failure with a few extra hits in our ECT. They weren't sensitive where we dug today, but I would not forget about them. 

We avoided wind-loaded slopes entirely and would recommend digging down three to four feet to test the upper level of the snowpack before considering any steep slopes. 

The 3-5” of new snow at Buck Ridge has blown into 1-1.5’ wind slab throughout the area. Cornices were built along the trail, and along ridgelines. The wind continued to transport snow today. We rode towards Beaver Creek to see if there was any avalanche activity–we saw a few small wind slabs. Next, we headed to the head of Bear Creek. The snow had built big pillows of wind drifted snow along the climb to the wilderness boundary. We observed some cracking on this slope when we stepped off our sleds. We stopped and dug a pit on the east facing slope at 9,400’. We found 7.5’ of snow (240 cm), and we had an ECTP 14, 2.5 feet below the surface of the snow on a layer of facets.

From FB: Had some tourists in the shop trigger an avalanche on two top yesterday. Didn't get exactly where or much details. Steep tracked up slope they set off. Just a partial sled burial.

We toured up to the bacon rind ridge, descended a southwest aspect, and then headed over and up to the Ernie Miller Ridge.

In sheltered locations, there was approximately 15 cm of storm snow from Sunday into Monday.  

On an east-southeast aspect off of Ernie Miller between approximately 9000-9700', we found widespread 20-25 cm thick 1F wind slab sitting on 1 mm facets. The slab was moderately resistant in hand shears and remained intact once isolated. It was not reactive to our jumping on small test slopes. We observed no cracking during our ascent and saw no signs of reactivity during our descent.

Above approximately 9700', the surface was largely scoured and there was a thin wind skin.  

We observed similar facets below the storm snow on our ascent of a southwest aspect between 8000-8700' on the way back up to the bacon rind ridge.   

We rode up Yale Creek and into Mt Jefferson Bowl. Walking to the edge we triggered an avalanche (intentional) on a slope that was getting wind-loaded. It broke up to 1.5 feet deep, 250 feet wide and 50 feet vertical. The new wind drifts were sensitive to triggering and the slabs propagated wide. Weak layers at the old snow surface may have helped us remotely trigger the slope. The two things to look out for in the Centennials are weak layer of sugary snow or feathery surface hoar in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack and slopes that are freshly wind-loaded.

Dug a quick test pit on Tuesday on an E aspect in Middle Basin. Found that persistent weak layer we’d been worried about, but got an ECTX when we tested it. We railed on it pretty hard afterwards and finally got it to break. When it did, it propagated cleanly all the way. Looked like it didn’t quite have enough load to fail yet but it’s still set up to and maybe this storm that just rolled through brought that load. We did also see evidence of an old avalanche on an E aspect in Beehive basin. Looked to be a couple of days old, probably from before Monday’s storm. 

One maybe two distinct seemingly natural large natural slab avalanches on small slope directly next to bridger canyon drive.  One on the lookers left was likely cornice triggered, but on the right it's unclear to me if it propagated or released naturally.

A slide occured at cliff lake up the  North Meadow area. I realized it had blown half way out into the lake. Looked like 48 to 72 hours ago but ice had been comprimised pushing chunks up.

From FB: We saw a fresh break on the west face of sage peak last night, I would guess around 9500’.

We rode north of Round Lake this morning (2/6/23). Near Long lake we measured 9" of new snow = 0.55" snow water equivalent. Near the Goose Lake wilderness boundary we measured 10" new snow = 0.65" SWE. In places there were 1mm facets below the new snow.

Wind was moderate-strong at the ridgelines, but calm around the lakes. 

There was a small snowmobiler triggered slide on a convex bench between Sheep Mtn. and Round Lake that was triggered this afternoon. It was 1.5-2' deep, 30' wide, and looked to have broke on a weak layer below last week's snow, on a freshly wind-loaded slope. In a relatively shallow, rocky area (photo attached).

We rode up Yale Creek to across from Arange Peak, then back into Yale Creek. We dug 3 snowpits looking for weak layers and found them a foot or two under the surface. Feathery surface hoar mixed with small, sugary facets were found in all. This layer was not propagating in our tests, but we know that nearby in Lionhead they avalanched. We are not completely trusting of these layers, especially at higher elevations where wind drifts would be adding even more weight to these layers.

This afternoon (2/5/23), we rode over Daisy Pass in hopes of seeing the recent skier triggered slide on Fisher Mountain, but it had started snowing and visibility was too limited to see the crown or get to the slide. We rode around the back of Fisher to Lulu Pass and then up to the south shoulder of Scotch Bonnet to dig a pit. There was an old, large pile of debris at the bottom of one of the Rasta Chutes that I assume slid last weekend.

We dug a pit at 9,600' on a southwest facing slope. HS was 160cm. Below last weekend's snow (1 foot/30cm deep) was a 10 cm thick layer of soft facets (F+ hardness). We had an ECTN 21 and ECTP 21 on this layer. The recent skier triggered avalanche on Fisher probably broke on this layer, on a more wind-loaded slope. This layer will be a problem for a while, especially as it gets loaded by more new and wind-drifted snow.

Wind was moderate out of the southwest-west, and at 4pm there was 3" of low-density new snow.

ECTPX in two pits at the top of Texas Meadows. No active wind loading. 

We observed some crowns from recent slides just south of the Flanders Peak east glade while touring up Flanders today. The snow was wind affected and slabby especially towards the ridges. No other signs of instability observed. We opted to stay in the trees and minimize exposure on the ski descent.

Heading up the Genesis gully towards Zack Attack on 2/5, we turned around after finding multiple very reactive slabs. The first slab broke very easily, ~4 hits from the wrist, and had a very clean shear ~4in deep. The second slab was more difficult to trigger and did not have a clean shear, but was maybe ~1.5-2ft deep.

Me and a buddy were out skiing/camping in the Hyalite Lake area. Late Saturday afternoon we started skinning up towards Hyalite Peak. The path up to the ridge was super hardpacked and windswept. We got up and there was quite a bit of snow loaded above the north slope. I dropped over the side and took about two turns before the entire face above me released from the very top and traveled down the entire north side down to the bowl below. I was able to get to the rocks on the side and my partner was able to pick his way down. The crown looked a few feet deep from what I could see and stretched across the entire top of the line.

We toured up the ridge between Going Home Chute and Tyler's (below prayer flags). We saw evidence of a large avalanche that broke during the avalanche warning last weekend in Going Home Chute, R3-D2.5 (see photos). It appeared to have run to the end of the runout zone and tipped over small trees. We dug a pit near the top of our ascent on a west aspect at 9,100'. HS was 160cm and we found surface hoar buried 55cm deep (105cm above ground). It did not propagate or easily break in our tests, but it was a clear stripe in the wall and may have contributed to the adjacent large avalanche last weekend.

We dug a second pit over the ridge in Middle Basin on an east aspect at 9,200'. HS was 175cm and buried surface hoar was 80 cm deep (95cm above ground). It did not break or propagate in standard ECT, but did propagate cleanly after 4-5 extra hard hits. Old faceted layers deeper in the snowpack were generally strong in both pits.

We also saw a crown of a large avalanche from earlier in the week on the west side of Beehive Basin, on an east facing slope around 8,800'. R3-D2, 2-3 feet deep, 150' wide.

Skied Mt Ellis today. The burn was heavily wind loaded at the very top but softened significantly as you got lower on the slope. I got an ECTX in my pit, the snowpack seems to be adjusting well to the recent load in this area. There were still multiple layers of concern that would give me pause to step out into bigger terrain throughout the advisory area. 

Toured/ skied on S though E aspects between 6000' and 8200' and observed the following:

-No slab avalanches observed

-Several localized whumphs 

-Two hand shears that failed upon isolation down 35cm, sudden planar failure (storm snow/ old snow interface)

-Two hand shears that failed easy down 35cm, sudden planar (storm snow/ old snow interface)

-Stomped one freshly wind-loaded rollover on micro-terrain and released a small (15 cm - 30cm thick) windslab

Dug a quick pit on an E aspect at 8200' and observed the following:

-HS 120 cm

-ski penetration 22cm

-boot penetration 53cm

-CT 17 resistant planar down 35 cm (storm snow/ old snow interface)

-ECTP 14 down 35 cm (storm snow/ old snow interface)

Steady, moderate winds all day from SW and W; no blowing or drifting snow observed in our immediate vicinity