Avalanche Discussion

Well at SnoQ Pass this morning, what people yesterday described as "utah like pow" had become a bit more dense with wind packing. I could see alot of snow getting transported. I didn't see faceting or crystals forming yet. The moon this morning was great for pre dawn travel. I think I heard that it is traveling closer to earth lately, unusually bright, and higher tides. There is enough to make light turns and of course there are hazards lurking but the brushed slopes were fun.

How about going to dig a pit on top of Goat Island Mountain? That would be an enjoyable slog.

ROTFLMAO!!!

On a more serious note, Kyle and I voted for some "Utah Pow" off of Three Way peak. Today was not a Utah day though, with obvious wind packing affecting the pack and what was falling. The snow falling (I think due to extremely cold temps and high wind) was very small and granular, and extremely light. With the wind packed snow, we triggered some minor soft slabbage, but depths of propogating cracks were anywhere from 6-12". I'm guessing with additional snow and wind this could become not so minor slabbing.

I just got back from my AIARE Level I at Mt Baker, so I feel like I ought to chime in with my observations. If I'm wrong about anything, correct me, I'm still learning. We dug quite a few pits, but all at lower alititudes (below Artist Point).

Some of the guys who arrived early on Friday triggered a small slab off the North side of Table Mountain. By Sunday the same area was tracked out.

What we saw Saturday was about 1m deep snow, largely unconsolidated. There was an ice crust about two feet down, with a layer of surface hoar on top of that. There was also a discrenable layer a few inches down, with just a slight change in density. Sunday we saw mostly the same, with just a little settling and a few extra inches of light on top. Most notably we saw far more depth facets than we did on Saturday. Not enough to really worry me, but if the trend continues it could get really bad. Wind loading appeared very light, although as we were leaving Sunday the winds picked up and we could see a lot of wind transport on Table.

Overall, we found everything pretty safe, but saw enough to say the area needs monitoring to see how it develops. We also noted the NWAC forecast specifically mentioned areas of instability from 5k to 6k, which we stayed out of.

There was an ice crust about two feet down, with a layer of surface hoar on top of that. 

I understand the lurking dangers of surface hoar, but any additional insight on ice crusts? It seems that new layers wouldn't bond well to a bed of ice, and I'm trying to understand all of this better.

An ice crust makes a great bed surface, but how well the snow above bonds can depend on a great number of factors. An ice crust can even improve stability by "bridging" weight over a larger area. So an ice crust by itself isn't really good or bad...

The snow we saw seemed to be bonded OK to the crust. I'd just call it neutral right now. If you get a slab going, it's probably going to be on that crust though.

The Longmire gate opened at 1137 today and a small convoy traveled to the Paradise parking lot. About 16 or so people headed up towards Alta Vista, most were skiers. By the time the group reached the cut over at Alta Vista to get onto the Glacier Vista rollers only 8, by my count, were left. If you stood in the snow, you would be right in up to your chest. No bottom with your pole in most areas. As the group moved along, 4-6 foot arches would break along the snow on the up hill side any where there was even a modest slope. The group moved up along the high points of the rollers. The winds were very strong, it was very cold and it was still snowing with lots of clouds swirling around. I stopped at the last big rocks before you head over to the bottom of Pan Pt. I saw 2 skiers and then 3 skiers trying to head up along the right side of Pan face just right of the trees. I hung out a while waiting to see if they would come down. It was getting around 2P. After they were out of my sight for the time for me to get another layer on, I headed back down skinning. I didn't see anyone skiing or riding. I tried to put myself in their boots wondering what they knew about the snow that I didn't. I was happy to get the work in. Coming back near Alta Vista I saw a group of two mired in muck up high on the west side of Alta Vista. I scooted along quickly until past Alta Vista. The snow was light, but not Continental light. For some of the people that fell over or down in the snow, it was quite the chore. I saw some struggles near Paradise as arms and hands had no purchase on the snow at all.