Observation: Public
Observation Details
Name:
Matt PrimomoObservation Date:
April 9, 2021Submitted:
April 9, 2021Zone or Region:
Stevens PassActivity:
Skiing/SnowboardingLocation:
Whitepine CirqueObserved Avalanches
Did you observe any avalanches?
YesAvalanche Type:
Wet LooseSize:
Size 2: Could bury, injure, or kill a personElevation:
5,500Aspect:
EComments:
Widespread wet loose avalanche cycle during the day with many D1-1.5's off mid-elevation E facing terrain in the area where I traveled. I drove up to the top of the pass after my tour and found a handful of large (D2) wet loose avalanches off Lichtenberg, and in the Berne Camp Paths off Rock Mountain. These were all on east to south to west aspects starting at upper or mid-elevations and often ran well into the below treeline zone.Photo:
Signs of Unstable Snow
Observations
A few cm's of recent snow at around 3,000ft slowly increased to about 20cm at 6,000ft. The snowpack went through a solid freeze last night, but I could still find some weak, wet grains under the recent crust up to around 4,000ft. Above 4,000ft the pack transitions to a dry snowpack on shaded aspects, and at 5,500ft on a north aspect I only found a very thin crust under the recent snow, with dry snow beneath that.
The sun was out, and my skins were glopping up a bit, even on north aspects as the sun was hitting the lower angled slopes I skinned up. At around 10:00 I noticed a number of fresh wet loose slides off the south peak of Rock Mountain. At 11:00, I got a good view of the east facing slopes in Whitepine Cirque, and those had all run as D1-1.5's in steeper terrain.
As I continued up onto north facing slopes I started coming across wind slab, 4F-1F in hardness. At first they were around 4" deep, but in some heavily drifted areas they were slightly thicker than 1ft. These were stubborn, but I did get some small, shallow sections to fracture at around 5,900ft. I skiied down from about 6,100ft, taking advantage of the less wind affected snow below me. Up above, I could see well-pronounced dunes and pillowed wind slab in the cirque.
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