Observation: Public

Name:

Allen Taylor

Observation Date:

January 16, 2021

Submitted:

January 17, 2021

Zone or Region:

East Central

Activity:

Skiing/Snowboarding

Location:

S Side of Mt Stuart

Did you observe any avalanches?

Yes

Avalanche Type:

Wet Slab

Size:

Size 3: Could bury and destroy a car, damage a truck, destroy a wood frame house, or break a few trees

Elevation:

Below treeline

Aspect:

Comments:

Multiple large wet slides in all valleys.

None reported

We were trying to get above the rain by going high on Stuart, but we found that there was a .5" rain crust between about 6500 and 8500. Even above 8500 the rain crust was present but thinner and mostly covered by newer snow. Opted not to descend Ulrich's (ascent route) due to the ice/poor skiing and instead descended cascadian, which at points resembled an inclined ice rink. Sliding falls on low angle terrain will be an issue in this zone, also seems like this ice layer is going to be with us for a while unless we get a nice warm then cooling storm to bond to it. Cold snow will just sluff off or if it accumulates the ice layer seems like it will be very poor interface. We were expecting rain affected snow but just were hoping that the rain either didn't reach this high, or that there was some bonding of new snow late in the cycle, both assumptions were mostly incorrect. Nice views!