Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Ben Johnson
Observation Date:
December 25, 2021
Submitted:
December 25, 2021
Zone or Region:
West North
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Heather Meadows

Triggered Avalanches

Did you trigger any avalanches? 
Yes
Was it intentional? 
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Size:
Size 1: Relatively harmless to people
Elevation:
4200
Aspect:
NW
Comments:

Observed Avalanches

Did you observe any avalanches? 
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Size:
Size 2: Could bury, injure, or kill a person
Elevation:
4200
Aspect:
NW
Comments:

Signs of Unstable Snow

Did you see shooting cracks? 
Yes, Widespread
Did you experience collapsing or whumpfing? 
No

Observations

Santa delivered a natural avalanche cycle to the Heather Meadows area this morning! Moderate to strong winds rapidly loaded leeward slopes NTL, and we observed several natural wind slab avalanches beginning around 10:00 am. The slides were mostly small (D1) in the terrain visible to us, but we observed one avalanche approaching D2 on a larger terrain feature. These slides occurred in W - NE facing terrain at around 4,200 feet, and broke 8-12 inches deep. We intentionally triggered one very small wind slab from a ridgetop.

Media

A larger wind slab near this feature approached D2 in size.
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