Very sad day.
I was at Stevens Saturday and Sunday and I wonder what the thought processes occurred to ski backcountry yesterday. My perception of the heavy snow that fell the many hours before was that the start of the ppt Friday afternoon and into early Saturday was a heavy wet snow, with some wind effects. Not so easy to ski. However as the day proceeded, the temperature seemed to drop with new accumulations being progressively dryer and lighter. Of course there was a lot more to come overnight. It certainly did not seem like an upside down snowpack.
In any case, from the many charges dropped by patrol and the many craters seen along the road, I would have to say I had seen a lot more propagation of slides in the usual areas than I saw from the work done that morning. Only saw a little propagation from the work all along Cowboy ridge into the north side and these did not seem to run particularly far. This is usually the wind loaded side?
The reports of shooting cracks and other releases would suggest a less stable snowpack than displayed by the avi work in the AM. I expect that my limited view of the area may mean that my observations are far less than complete, so I hope those who work that area will be able to offer important information to the rest of the community.
The Seattle Times story this morning stated "a fracture 200 yards wide and 20ft. deep". Also, the skiers (at least some) noted a three foot crack before it let loose. I can see a slide stepping down to deeper layers, but if this fracture did let loose full depth, then it may have involved weaknesses that the normal depth snowpits, etc. would not be expected to find. I know news agencies get this stuff wrong all the time.
Snoholic's observations would not support such a deep fracture. On the other hand he was not able to see that the slide went all the way to the valley floor. The news description and John Gifford's description of the event and locale last night made it clear that it did travel all the way to the valley floor, at least 1500ft. From the description from those there in the Times was that it funneled through a drainage and therefore likely did not involve much in the way of trees visible to Snoholic, though the victim did describe hitting trees all the way down.
My deepest condolences to those families of those lost in this tragedy.
