Observation: Public
Observation Details
Name:
Greg SundbergObservation Date:
March 3, 2022Submitted:
March 4, 2022Zone or Region:
West NorthActivity:
Skiing/SnowboardingLocation:
Herman SaddleObserved Avalanches
Did you observe any avalanches?
YesAvalanche Type:
Wet SlabSize:
Size 3: Could bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a wood frame house, or break a few treesElevation:
Aspect:
SComments:
From saddle observed a soft slab release with a very loud rumble from near the apex of open apron that is looker's right of the Mazama Bowl entrance and trees. It actually sounded like a Shuksan Icefall release. There is a very evident crown where the release occurred and the after pouring over a cliff below the deposition on boulder field looked to be several feet deep.Signs of Unstable Snow
None reported
Observations
Took a circuitous ridgeline approach to Herman Saddle to inspect carnage from past couple days while avoiding higher risk terrain. Signifcant debris from wet snow slides including some depositions in choke points up to 5ft deep. Saw continued larger size wet snow slides come across the normal S. facing skin track through boulder field. From saddle observed the above referenced soft slab release. Descent from Saddle was definitely suboptimal. It would be charitable to call the upper layer of current snowpack "heavy pow"; much greater resemblance to overly saturated concrete slurry.