Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Hilary Groh
Observation Date:
November 27, 2022
Submitted:
November 27, 2022
Zone or Region:
West North
Activity:
Snowmobiling/Snowbiking
Location:
Canyon Creek

Observed Avalanches

Did you observe any avalanches? 
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Size:
Size 1: Relatively harmless to people
Elevation:
4500ft
Aspect:
N
Comments:

Signs of Unstable Snow

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

Observations

Continuous snow began around 3300ft and we parked at 3400ft (snow was 2-3” deep). Traveled up to 4500ft. There was a lot of wind affected snow above 3700ft, mostly on N and W aspects.
Coverage was about 2ft deep in most places over 4000ft.
We observed an upside-down snowpack. On the ground was refrozen ice, then just above that was 4-6” of very moist snow, then 10-12” of low-density snow, and on top was anywhere from 2-6” of firm wind affected snow.
We saw a few small shallow avalanches in the new snow, and our sled skis did have some shooting cracks coming off of them.

Media

Wind scouring on a NW facing slope at 4500ft.
We saw a number of small, shallow avalanches like these in wind affected terrain. N facing slope at 4500ft.
Shooting crack from sled ski.
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