Day 1 - Red Rock

First day of the GTSR Avalanche Forecasting season! The road crew was working on the large debris pile in the Red Rock avalanche path (photo) and we toured above to have a look at the new snow accumulations, wind loading, and observe any recent avalanche activity if visibility offered.

Weather:

• Temperatures remained below freezing above 5000' before 1pm and were at or above freezing below that elevation.
• Overcast skies breaking up throughout the day
• Consistent light gusting moderate SW winds
• A brief snow flurry around 1030am with no accumulation was all the precip observed

Snowpack:

• Surface snow moist along MacDonald Creek (below 3500')
• 5-25 cm of new snow with increasing depth up to 6000' high point for the day
• Recent snow widely redistributed by wind with scoured spots of bare crust and wind slab pockets throughout exposed terrain
• Wind slabs were isolated to specific terrain and were possible (but generally stubborn) to trigger on small test slopes
• Full profile conducted (attached) at 6011' on a 37* westerly previously wind-loaded slope in upper Red Rock
• Notes from profile: the crusts abide and it seems that meltwater penetrated ~105cm down into the seasonal snowpack during the mid-March warm-up and rain events

Avalanche:

• No new avalanches observed today
• Evidence of recent loose dry/wet? avalanche activity largely covered by recent snowfall + wind redistribution
• Evidence of larger wet slab or persisten slab cycle seen in Red Rock (debris pile is double the size it was in mid-January) and in numerous D2+ debris piles in the 54-1 avalanche path

We kept it mellow and stuck to generally lower angle terrain today, especially in areas when we felt a definitive slab structure in the upper snowpack.