Conditions in the Middle Fork

We toured into the Middle Fork today to check on conditions and collect more information about the distribution of our Deep Persistent Slab.

• Above 4500 feet, we found evidence of wind-affected snow. Widespread wind crusts up to 4 inches thick sit on top of weak, fist-hard snow. Cracking was common underfoot, but no propagation was observed. 
• We dug a pit at 6000 feet on a northeast aspect. We found a combination of crusts and facets 40 centimeters above the ground in a 3-meter  pit. Two distinct crusts were present at this location, with 1 centimeter of facets above and below both crusts.   20-25 centimeters of moist, rounding facets sit on the ground.
• We observed wet loose avalanche debris from two slides on the north slopes of Mt Penrose at 4600 feet. One was large enough to bury a person. These likely occurred late Thursday (1/20) as the day's fresh snow turned to rain (see photos and avalanche tab).