Today, unlike many ski days that were better than expected, it was far worse than expected.
Avalanches. We saw some.
We saw numerous slides that occurred during the rain event on Monday.
Notably, we observed one D3, one D2.5, a handful of D2s, and at least 10 D1.5.
Fracture lines were observed above the bigger slides, with debris piles of wet loose that have frozen.
2 inches of fresh snow at the trailhead and 4 inches at 5800’ This new snow was poorly bonded to the underlying stout crust
Despite the generous amount of frozen debris, bushwhacking in alders, and slipping on the crust, we were still happy to ski.
The avalanche tab will be filled out on Christmas Day.
This avalanche entrained a substantial amount of wet snow as it descended a gulley. The debris pile was frozen. Fracture lines were spotted but hard to decipher due to the distance and angle of sight.
This slide was similar to its neighbor, the D3. This also entrained a substantial amount of wet snow. A second release (?) allowed a finger of debris to travel down the center of the runout and leave a long thin tail of debris (Stegasouraus).
These occurred on both SE and NE aspects.
These were found on SE and NE aspects. Probably more than 11 total, but it was nearly impossible to decipher them until your skis hit their debris.
