From IG mesasge (4/6): "Some wet action at arange peak near Sawtell yesterday. From slope Dave and I did our first pit on Monday. Lots of release in that new old interface but didn’t see anything releasing down deeper." Photo: Z. Bailey
From obs: "Skier triggered slide in one of the Love chutes dropping into Frazier basin. Skier attempted to ski cut the top of the chute, snow was not reactive. He began to ski the chute and triggered a wind slab about 18” deep which failed the crust from the recent warm stretch. Was carried about 200 feet and managed to self arrest on the side of the chute while the slide continued to the bottom. No serious injuries. "
Skiers in the Love Chutes triggered this avalanche after a ski cut produced no results. Further down the chute, the first skier triggered an 18" wind slab avalanche. They were carried 200' before self-arresting and were uninjured. Photo: Anonymous
Skiers in the Love Chutes triggered this avalanche after a ski cut produced no results. Further down the chute, the first skier triggered an 18" wind slab avalanche. They were carried 200' before self-arresting and were uninjured. Photo: Anonymous
From IG mesasge (4/6): "Some wet action at arange peak near Sawtell yesterday. From slope Dave and I did our first pit on Monday. Lots of release in that new old interface but didn’t see anything releasing down deeper."
From email: "Riding was good - deeper than anticipated, though maybe not worth the damage and mud on the way out.
There were plenty of signs of storm snow instability, especially in the wind loaded terrain. Didn’t really need to dig to be on alert. We kept the angles relatively low all day, plenty of fun pow to ride in the trees. "
Riders also noted a human-triggered avalanche on the shoulder of Hollywood Bowl
We toured up the Ramp today from the Bradley's Meadow backcountry gate. Near Bradley's we measured 19" of snow and 2.7" of snow water equivalent. On several test slopes, we observed cracking and only triggered small sloughs in steep pockets of terrain. At noon we stopped above the refrigerator chutes and dug there. We found 24" on new snow with 3.05" of snow-water equivalent. In the storm snow, we had ECTP6, ECTN11 & PST24/100 SF. Below the recent storm snow was a 1.5" thick crust with moist snow beneath.
Near the top of the Ramp we saw a small skier-triggered avalanche that buried a portion of the skin track in front of us. While skiing down the ramp new snow was easily sloughed but never picked up much momentum. On our second lap, we saw several skier-triggered storm slab avalanches breaking ~1' deep within the new snow (R2/D1.5). We saw one larger avalanche below the cliffs between the Refrigerator Chutes and Wolverine Cirque (R2/D2). We spoke to a skier who skied Wolverine Crique who reported many small storm slab or slough avalanches. All of these avalanches occurred on slopes steeper than 35 degrees.
Snow continued in strong pulses throughout the day and we estimated 2-3" fell between 12:00 and 2:30 pm. At the top of the ridge, winds were light from the south. At the middle and lower elevations, winds were moderate with strong gusts. Bradley's Meadow back to the parking lot was very wind-affected.