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BNSF Avalanche Safety Field Observations
Location Name:
Snowslip Mountain/Shed 9 to Shed 5 traverse
Observation date:
Thursday, February 15, 2018 - 19:00
Is this an Avalanche Observation:
No
Observation made by:
Public
Location
Tabs
Quick Observation
Toured up the south face of Snowslip Mountain via the Shed 9 Path and over the ridge at 7000 feet elevation to the Shed 7 weather station. After some maintenance work on the station we descended the Shed 5 path back to the rail grade.
Scattered clouds in the AM, then mostly cloudy by the afternoon with very light snowfall and light westerly winds. Air temperatures 10-15°F above 6000 feet elevation and low-20s °F at the Canyon floor.
Since Tuesday the 13th, the Canyon floor picked up another 7 cm of snow and elevations above 6000 feet accumulated another 15-25 cm.
Recent wind slabs were slowly building, mostly on westerly aspects. These were small and thin wind (10-30 cm thick).
Test slopes produced some minor cracking and occasionally we could get a little tabletop-sized wind slab to release.
Large cornices are present in the Infinity, Shed 9, and Shed 7 W avalanche paths (photo 1).
Feb 8 crust was mostly supportable throughout the tour.
Dug a snowpit to the ground at 6600 feet in the Shed 9 path on south aspect, 35° slope, HS=270 cm.
Multiple ECTNs in the upper 70 cm of the snowpack but no propagating fractures.
The December facets were present at the base of the snowpack, see pit profile (photo 2).
No avalanche activity observed.
Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:
Travel Details
Region:
Glacier National Park - Southern Lewis Range
Avalanche Details
Avalanche Details:
Date and Time of Avalanche:
Thursday, February 15, 2018 - 19:00
