Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Daniel MacDonald
Observation Date:
December 21, 2022
Submitted:
December 21, 2022
Zone or Region:
Mt Hood
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
“TDH w Views” Pics/Data Updates + Ski Out Obs

Observed Avalanches

Did you observe any avalanches? 
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Other
Size:
Size 3: Could bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a wood frame house, or break a few trees
Elevation:
6800’
Aspect:
S
Comments:
Corrected Aspect (Generally southerly, though highly likely also a SE-facing steep gully wall akin to same day, similar elevation Timberline/White River obs) and Elevation (6800’ from 8800’ which was either a typo or brain freeze from rushing a very cold mid-tour obs…on that note, if it were possible to update obs submissions, would submit more mid-tour/pre-6pm “in progress” versus post-6pm/day after…). Also including original (annotated now) pics since forgot marking them up on iphones hurt resolution. Finally including up close pics of Mirror Basin/TDH ridge D1 slides that I obtained during the descent.

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Normal skinning on the as-of-recently ungroomed trail leading to TDH summit broke through the thick (likely rain) crust a couple inches down and helped me decide to not tackle breaking trail back up from Mirror Lake but exit via the hikers trail instead. That said, I was surprised to find that my weight did not really punch through the crust anywhere on the descent of mainly north-easterly aspects down to Mirror Lake trail and on the whole skied fairly well - albeit in a fairly defensive manner on/under steep, NTL, no canopy slopes bc of those PWL concerns - and wo concerning indicators like whumping or (shooting) cracking. That said, every time pushed a pole in and moved it around, it was kinda spooky. Including some images of that too.

Media

NW wind snow transport off Hood’s summit ridge and (very likely) large debris field in lookers left gully under MS headcliffs. While the gully sides are steep, fall line is mid-high 20s explaining why a se-facing gully wall wind or other slab might stop at 6800’
Perhaps its too distant but looks like there are both cornices on the White River moraine (easterly winds) AND wind scouring (westerly winds). Would be (oddly) consistent w this past week’s shifting winds in a way.
Few inches freshies on top of a THICK (likely) rain crust of Skyline road
Spooky layers on non spooky terrain (ungroomes trail leading to TDH summit)
Avys coming off TDH Ridge Crags. Would say warming caused but when? Maybe rain loading caused them to release?
Nice skiing wo punch throughs down the ridge
No concerning indicators (quickly) crossing a small concerning slope.
Better view of D1 (wet?) slides coming off TDH Ridge crag
Even better view of those D1 slides
Final spook pole probe in Mirror Lake basin
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