Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Grace Peven
Observation Date:
January 27, 2021
Submitted:
January 27, 2021
Zone or Region:
West Central
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Illabot Peaks area

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Today we traveled into the Illabot Peaks area accessed from Illabot Creek Rd. We skinned up a road for 2-3 miles before moving up a small nose ridge to a saddle. There was about 6 or so inches of soft dry snow on top of the rain crust which made for much improved travel and skiing. We dug a pit at 4200 feet on a 25 degree NW aspect slope. We performed a compression test and did not get any collapsing within the column. Snow depth was 230 cm. Throughout the day we noticed that the new snow easily sloughed off the icy crust, but we stuck to mellow terrain so didn’t notice any significant problems with the sloughing.

We observed some wind loaded features but did not get any reactivity with tests. We skied a protected 25-30 degree east facing slope and the snow was excellent!!

Media

Some wind drifted snow on the edge of the road.
Skinning back up the mellow east facing slope that we skied.
Old wet loose debris piles.
Old point release avalanches on steep exposed slopes.
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