Snow Observations List

From IG: A group of riders reported seeing three new natural avalanches on April 1. 

From IG: “North meadow creek tobacco roots today“

Experienced a very large whumpf on the Middle Basin Ridge at Beehive.

We had just finished digging pits in the first large open section of the ridge and one of our skiers was jumping on the snow above the pit when there was a large whumpf. We guessed that the whumpf could have extended out to be about 100 m total(of course this is an estimate), but the point is that it was very large. One other group experienced two separate smaller whumpfs about 200 m away on a different section of the ridge.

The large whumpf occurred at approx. 9020 ft on a west aspect. 2 smaller whumpfs occurred at approx. 9030 ft on south/southwest aspects.

We rode to the Taylor Fork Weather station, then to the Wilderness Boundary above Beaver Creek, and then through Sage and Carrot Basin. There was 13-14" of new snow throughout the area. At the Wilderness Boundary we saw several R2-D2 avalanches on a NE facing ridgeline above Beaver Creek. We dug a pit on a SW aspect at 8,800' that was 9' in depth (HS: 279 cm). We had an ECTP 11 at the interface between the new and old snow. We also had an ECTP 24 on a layer of 1.0 mm facets sandwiched between two melt freeze crusts. These results and the recent avalanche activity highlighted the instability that exists from this most recent snow. When we were leaving our pit site the visibility improved, and we saw  a R3-D3 avalanche in a high alpine bowl. This avalanche confirmed that deep slab avalanches are still a concern for our advisory area.

We dug a pit to the ground (260cm) on the west wall in Beehive Basin to target observations for the Deep Slab problem. Attached is a SnowPilot graph of the layers, hardness, and grain identification. We performed a PST but did not get any results on the deeper facet layer, possibly due to the column not being fully isolated in the 260cm pit. 

We skied/snowboarded in the Lionhead range today and dug a pit on a southeast facing slope at 8900 feet. There was about 3" of fresh on top of a 3/4" thick crust. Then about 11 inches of 1-4 finger density snow, a hard 3/4" thick crust, a 1" layer of snow, and a third 1/2" thick crust. Below this was 30 " of one finger density snow to the bottom of our pit, (and 32" of snow below that).

We got ECTN4 at 6" below the surface along an unidentified thin layer, and ECTP11 that slid on top of the second ice crust (about 14" below the surface).

Riding conditions were better than the crusty layers might suggest. We stuck to the trees, less-than-30-degree slopes, and avoided slopes leading to terrain traps. We did not observe any avalanche activity.

Our party of 6 stayed at the Hellroaring Creek hut over the weekend. The winds and snowfall were intense, with the snow turning more graupelly by mid Saturday.
We dug a pit on a southerly aspect of Mount Nemesis, near the hut around 8000.’ We noted the complex layering, including a weak layer about 20” down that failed on the 23rd shovel hit. 

On Sunday morning the sun broke through for a bit and allowed us to view the widespread avalanche cycle that occurred overnight on all aspects. Across the creek, we saw a large crown (approx 3’ in depth) in the meadows. 

An avalanche that occurred on Nemesis’s south face ran from mid mountain all the way into Hellroaring Creek, running over our old skinner. 
 

The natural slides on Nemesis’s north face were some of the biggest we have seen in any slide, knocking out a lot of trees towards the bottom.  

Large natural on the E facing head wall above ainger lake. One smaller crown above the large main crown, broke on a deep layer. Debris ran past the lake. 

Winds started cranking this afternoon in the alpine and ridge tops. Lots of snow being transported around. Ski and skin tracks were disappearing close to the ridge between laps. 

ECTP 22 & ECTP 27, down 50 and PST 75/100 end, down 50 & 80 at 7800 ft on E aspects on the ramp above Bradley Meadows

PST 45/100 end, down 180 on E aspects at 7700 ft on E/NE aspects at N end of the top of Bradley Meadows 

Toured into Frazier Basin today and noted a few instabilities. First, on our approach, we experienced a loud "whumph" around 7000' on an East facing slope. Second, we saw a large natural avalanche above Ainger lake (E-SE facing) that ran from near the top of the ridge itself to propelling debris up, over, and past the lake. The crown ranged from 2-5ft high spanning 400-500ft across the face. Lastly, the wind was whipping and transporting lots of snow. As we gained a North-East facing ridge around 8500' a couple of pole/hand pits reviled a 4" pencil hard wind crust. Spring is in the air but it is still very much winter out here.   

Saw this crown from a distance today. Possibly natural R3-D3 on ESE aspect, likely caused by wind loading. Unsure when it occurred, but crown looked large and debris ran into the flats mowing down some small flag trees. 

We were forced to turn around yesterday on emigrant peak. We heard 2 large wumphs occur under our feet while skinning up and a visible crack was also seen. We dug a pit and obtained a score of 14 and it propagated all the way across the snow pack. The snow near the ground is very sugary and weak. This was on a SE facing slope at 7500 feet. 

My ski partner and I toured into Frazier Basin on Saturday, April 1st. We observed obvious signs of wind loading as we made our way up from Fairy Lake to the Frazier ridge. We found a crust layer a few centimeters thick that was widespread throughout the basin. The crust was not shooting cracks as we moved but hand pits showed that it was cohesive and easily breaking on the soft snow below. My ski Partner popped off a small wind slab that had enough energy to knock him off his feet. This was the only slab we found that moved after skiing three lines on different aspects. The wind slab that broke was just below a ridge in a bowl feature that probably experienced more wind loading than most other areas in the basin. We also observed an old avalanche at the end of the basin possibly from a cornice fall that ran the whole length of the slope down to the trees in the center of Frazier Basin. Overall it was not feeling like a spring snowpack and you should continue to be skeptical of multiple layers in the Bridgers. 

We were snowmobiling up portal creek today near the hidden lakes trailhead and I set off a small slide remotely by riding below a small ridge. The slide was about 3 feet at its crown 30 or 40 feet wide and ran about 40 yards. It just came down to where my track had crossed underneath. Everything was fine and we stayed safe and continued on with our plan and had a nice day.

This natural avalanche was observed in the afternoon around 1500. It was not seen earlier in the day and is thought to occurred at some point after 1200. It was seen from a distance on Pioneer mountain. It occurred on an E facing slope around 9600’. Active wind transport was noted on the ridge line above the avalanche. It looked to be around a R3-D2.

Toured in Beehive, Middle, and Bear Basins. In hand pits on W aspects we observed soft slab moving easily on a thin layer of facets over a melt-freeze crust buried about 40-50 cm. We dug on an E aspect at 9275' in Middle Basin and got ECTP24 on the same layer. Kept our objectives mellow. Did not observe any avalanche activity. 

After a long day of riding 2 to 3 thousand feet higher in good snow I was getting close to the truck after 10 or so miles on a mostly hard pack trail I decided to climb this hill in a split second decision. My sled was overheating and my plan was to cool it down. As I ascended the hill I hit a pencil hard wind slab about a third of the way up, I knew instantly that I was in trouble as this slope ended up being much steeper than I had initially thought. I made a decision in the moment to continue up the slope as it was not many vertical feet in elevation. My thoughts were that I had lots of speed and momentum built up and that that would carry me up I also thought that if I tried to make an aggressive turn it would put more stress on the snow pack and I also figured the closer to the top of the slab I was when it fractured the better off I would be. I made it about 100 feet from the top of the hill when it first fractured, I was about 20 feet from the fracture and there was a point slightly to my right that was the closest point of the fracture to me. I turned slightly right heading to the closest point of snow above the fracture line. As I turned the slope started sliding. The top of the of the slide rolled over like a large wave and a block hit me in the ribs luckily not nocking me off my sled. I maintained full throttle and kept my momentum traverseing through the rolling blocks. My only thought was to try to stay on top of my machine and keep forward momentum. In the last few moments of the slide I could feel I was loosing control of my machine because it was starting to get sucked into the avalanche. When the slide stopped I was in snow to my knee on my uphill side. I want to end this with a warning of complacency. I had been in big terrain all day and didn't analyze the slope like I should have a simple glance for a moment and I would have recognized the dangers of the wind slab. I got complacent and it almost got me injured or killed. Just because a slope is small doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.

**Reporting this from a friend of a friend. Not my photo, nor was I involved.**
 

one skier got caught above large bottom cliff, carried all the way down over cliff to the apron. Said skier walked away completely unharmed. Not buried. 
 

north face of that bowl, near cornrows. 

Additional info from BSSP: 

"There was a large, deep slab avalanche snowboard triggered in Lone Lake Cirque this afternoon. The
slide ripped in a secondary start zone below ridgetop, and ran far into the flats, and may have run a

bit uphill, where it encountered the rock glacier moraine in the runout. It looks to be a R4, D2.5."

From IG:

Think this was a recent natural up buck I saw today. Didn’t get close enough to see but looked like it was a big crown… down low 8900ish SE