Brief clearings early with views of the upper mountain. Obscured skies for most of the day. Moderate westerly winds.
Triggered several cornices and two shallow wind slabs (D1) on small tests slopes. No evidence of natural avalanche activity on the upper mountain.
15-20cm of wind-affected storm snow (F-4F) was fairly well bonded to a thick melt-freeze crust (K) buried 3/17. Tests targeting the 3/17 interface produced resistant planar fractures and no propagation. Below 3/17, the snowpack is consolidated, strong, and spring-like with alternating layers of melt-freeze crusts and rounded grains several of which were moist. The past week of storms and wind overbuilt cornices which were large and sensitive to triggers. Wind slabs were 10-40cm thick and stubborn to triggers. Exposed west-facing ridges were scoured to the 3/17 crust and south and east aspects were fat and loaded. Despite the wind affected surfaces from the 3/19 wind event, ski quality was good with smooth and fast turns in the cold snow.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Layer Depth/Date: 3/17 |