Observation: Public

Name:

Nolan Averbuch

Observation Date:

November 30, 2022

Submitted:

November 30, 2022

Zone or Region:

West North

Activity:

Skiing/Snowboarding

Location:

Bagley Lakes

Did you observe any avalanches?

Yes

Avalanche Type:

Dry Loose (Sluff)

Size:

Size 1: Relatively harmless to people

Elevation:

4600'

Aspect:

E

Comments:

Several L-N-R1-D1-I avalanches at the toe of Herman Gulch. They had already occurred by the time we got there at 11am . See photos

Did you see shooting cracks?

No

Did you experience collapsing or whumpfing?

Yes, Isolated

Our tour today took us up past the Boulder field, headed for Herman Saddle. On our climb at 4,860' the second skier up the skintrack triggered a collapse (audible in a whumpf). The HS where I was standing was 176cm, and we dug into the slope in a drift directly in front of my skis. The slope faced SSE and was an isolated terrain feature. Here we found an HS of 245cm. See profile for hand hardness test results and a photo of the crystals found at the bottom of the snowpack. Unsure whether the rounding basal facets or the 88-82cm layer caused the whumf.

We saw skiers on grotto, blueberry chute, east gully, and martha's with no observed human triggered avalanche activity.

We also still saw open water between upper and lower Bagley Lakes as well as some holes above upper Bagley lake

Rounding Facets found at the bottom of the snowpack on a terrain feature that created a whumpf