Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We toured up to Artist Point around 1pm to check out the lines back down to Bagley Lakes. Moderate-strong winds throughout the day were still present when we arrived up at Artist Point, still transporting snow. Near the chutes leading to Bagley Lakes we found snow depth ranging from 2-16 inches in wind deposits. Above Dog Chute we dug a hand pit and found 8 inches of wind drifted snow sitting on top of a 1-2cm crust, likely a sun/wind crust from this week. Underneath the crust was sugary faceted snow down to the storm crust from the beginning of the month. The depth of wind snow on top of a crust and surprisingly weak layer set alarms off for us and we decided not to ski any of these chutes, instead we returned via the skin/snowshoe track. Other fresh lines were visible down this cute and others, so other users made a different assessment but we did not want that to factor into our decision. On a day when NWAC used “zesty to tangy” to describe potential avalanche conditions in this zone, our findings were not confidence inspiring to enter consequential terrain.