Wall to Wall

8th straight day of remotely-triggered slides. They get more lethal everyday. Now they're releasing naturally.

• Triggered at least 4 large avalanches remotely from a ridge. 50% or more of possible start zones. 2 triggered from 100 to 150 feet away.
• Each day I'm out the triggered slides get nastier. Today's broke 20+ inches deep and wall-to-wall across start zones, even in seemingly-anchored sections. The fractures propagate very quickly and the slides accelerate dramatically on the slick crust that's the bed surface.
• The failure layer is preserved surface hoar 1-2" above the 1/13 crust. We did not find this layer on an east-facing slope at 5800 feet.
• All released on steep east- and north-facing slopes at about 6400 ft +-100 ft. 

As if that weren't enough to persuade us of the danger, a very large avalanche released naturally a half mile away almost immediately after winds veered northerly and blowing snow increased.

• This slide broke about as wide as possible (at least 850 feet) on the easterly-facing slope. It released just downwind of a saddle on a ridge at about 6900 feet.
• While the crown varied in thickness, it looked to average several feet deep. 
• Several nearby gullies looked to have filled with debris this afternoon, but in the flat light we couldn't see crowns or details. 

Southerly slopes were a different story.

• No triggered or natural avalanches; no whumpfing or collapsing.
• Northerly winds were just starting to load these slopes as we left.

Arctic air was just spilling over the divide as we skeedaddled out of John F. Stevens Canyon.