There was a lot of blowing snow out there. We found an ugly stack of weak snow (facets) and crusts on sunnier slopes and experienced cracking and collapsing in fresh drifts. Although we did not directly trigger or observe any avalanches, the ingredients are there for sensitive slabs in wind affected terrain.
Very windy this morning. Ground blizzards off of roofs in Ketchum at times. Lots of blowing snow was observed on the way north (9 AM). Wind blew from the WNW-N and even NE at times. Wind was observed drifting and moving snow in the basin below Titus Peak. Winds eased mid-morning, although snow was observed streaming off of exposed peaks from the Pass to the WRV in the early afternoon. Snow flurries produced a trace of new snow.
See problems and photos.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Layer Depth/Date: 30-50 cm Comments: A variety of weak facet + crust combinations exist on some steep, sunnier slopes. These will be touchy where a fresh slab has formed. The location we dug was reminiscent of the much shallower, wind and sun affected areas of the White Clouds, Boulders, and Pioneers. In these shallow locations the snowpack is heavily faceted and there is a lot of weak snow to choose from. Larger avalanches are possible in bigger alpine terrain where hard slabs rest over facets. |
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Layer Depth/Date: 20-50 cm Comments: It's hard to separate wind slabs from persistent slabs here. There may be some true wind slabs failing on non-persistent weak layers but I'd assume given the wind direction and mess of near-surface weak layers that most slides will fail on crust + facet combos. |
We skied a short steep slope in heavily faceted snow that lacked a slab.