Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Robin Pendery
Observation Date:
February 20, 2021
Submitted:
February 20, 2021
Zone or Region:
Snoqualmie Pass
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Roaring Ridge

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Today we traveled below treeline, looking for information about the current upper snowpack ahead of the upcoming storm.

We experienced light snow showers with sun breaks in between. During these sun breaks, the snow surface became moist, and snow fell off trees. We observed limited wind transportation, but the wind was gusty throughout the day.

At 3,000 we found 4" of moist surface snow over a ski supportable crust. We observed natural roller balls and small wet loose avalanches, and were able to easily trigger very small wet loose avalanches on test slopes.

At 4,000 ft on a N aspect we found 150 cms. of right-side up snow above the 2/11 crust. There were very small faceted grains above the 2/11 crust, although they appeared to be healing and unreactive.

Media

At elevations below 3,000 ft we found moist surface conditions and were able to easily generate rollerballs and trigger very small wet loose avalanches
At 4,000 ft we found a generally right side up snowpack, with the 2/11 crust down 150 cms.
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