BNSF Avalanche Safety Field Observations

We dug one snowpit at 5800 feet on a slightly wind-loaded 30 degree slope with a south-southwest aspect. Total snow depth here was 113 cm. The rain crust formed last night had already been buried under 30 cm of new snow. Overall still finding a poor structure snowpack (photo 2, snowpit profile) but the only result in our Extended Column Test was ECTN5 @ 105 on a slight density change in the new storm snow.

• Toured above Shed 7 on the south face of Snowslip Mountain along the Shed 7/6 ridge to 5800 feet. Dug a snowpit at our high point and descended the Shed 7 east path back to the highway.

• Overcast skies with S1-S2 precipitation all afternoon. Air temperatures were in the single digits °F with steady moderate to strong easterly winds. As of 1500 ridgetop winds have clocked back to the west.

• Travel on skis was fast and efficient today with 17-30 cm of new snow on top of the new rain crust that formed overnight.
• East-northeast winds were actively loading westerly-southerly aspects at all elevations.
• We could trigger very small wind slabs on small test slopes (photo 1). Also noted some minor shooting cracks on recently windloaded terrain.
• Very small wind slab avalanches released with some forceful ski cuts/stomps.
• No naturals observed but visibility was very limited.
• We confirmed that Shed 7 East ran during the late December avalanche cycle with debris terminating at the upper edge of the snowshed.