Observation: NWAC Forecaster

All Observations

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
February 10, 2023
Submitted:
February 10, 2023
Observer:
NWAC Forecaster - Irene Henninger, Hans Brubaker, Amy Wadley
Zone or Region:
West North
Location:
Canyon Creek (3000-6000ft, all aspects)

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches? 
None Observed
Cracking? 
None Experienced
Collapsing? 
None Experienced

Media/Attachments

Bearpaw area, 5600-6000ft, east-facing. Partially filled in tracks from the previous day with about 5” of new snow. Subtle wind texture noted on most surfaces, aside from visible pillows noticeable on steep slopes beneath the ridgelines.
Very little wind influence in last night’s few inches of snow at Bearpaw
10cm of new snow with a subtle crust from 2/9 buried beneath it. Another 10cm down was another obvious thin crust with a graupel layer just beneath that.
Much of the snow was surprisingly moist at 4800ft. The surface layer stayed dry, but was heavy. A thin crust was noticeable at the top of the moist snow.

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Mostly Cloudy
Wind:
Light , W
New/Recent Snowfall:
10cm overnight

Variable sky cover throughout day from overcast to scattered skies midday to obscured at 3pm. Light graupel falling 3pm-when we left

Snowpack Observations

We traveled up to Bearpaw where we found on average 10cm of slightly heavy but dry new snow with a thin crust beneath it. Only small amounts of wind-affect were noticeable from last night, where few isolated slopes along ridgelines lee to the west had what looked like more obvious pockets of wind slab. Other surfaces had subtle wind texture but not much redistribution was noticed.

We dug multiple pits and I was able to ID some well rounded grain forms which were previously facets above the MLK crust, and failed on 23 taps, resistant planar, with a compression test. This was on one pit, east facing, 5800ft. I wasn’t able to find anything resembling weakness on my south and north facing pits above the MLK crust.

We traveled out onto some small, steep slopes with no instabilities found. Other riders were highmarking bigger slopes and no avalanches were seen.

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