20-21

From obs: "Sometime mid-day the steep rocky terrain above the going home couloir as well as the start zones in Tyler’s avalanched, just new snow, SS-N-D1R2-I. Just guessing about the trigger but didn’t see tracks going in, although there were certainly lots of people around." Photo: Sam H.

From obs: "Hi Guys, Skied an open slope adjacent to Hyalite creek... Lots of natural sluffing occurring within the new snow. This particular slope has some steep cliffs above it, and point releases from the cliffs would entrain new snow and run 200 ft downhill. Have a picture attached showing 2 of them, but saw about 7 or 8 of these throughout the day. Activity picked up in the early afternoon when the snow picked back up." Photo: M. Lavery

There was about 6" of new snow in Flanders. It snowed on and off all morning and kicked in again around noon. There was no wind. We climbed Killer Pillar (E. facing, ~8600'). In about a 45 minute span we had 5-6 large sluffs barrel over the top of the climb and run a few hundred feet down the gully...a long ways. Luckily we were not climbing the gully or leading because it would have peeled us off. We descended to the north to stay out of the gut. We were in avalanche terrain and had the surface snow sluff far down the hill. It was running so fast and far I had to stop and dig a quick pit to see why. It was near-surface faceting under the snow. I had an ECTN. There was not enough of a slab to propagate a fracture. We made a quick movie which is posted on YouTube.

LS-N-R2-D1...could be R1...no way to know, but by the time they all ran I imagine a lot of the bowl above had released.

I was super psyched that we both had our lighweight shovels and probes and were beeping. You just never know!

Better photo

Hi Guys,

Skied an open slope adjacent to Hyalite creek. Dug a snow pit at ~8000ft, E facing, 15 deg slope.

20cm of new low density snow. Surface hoar was buried 35cm from the surface under a 4F slab. Had a CT 2 on the new snow/old snow, and CT 18 BRK on the surface hoar. ECTN 2 and 17 on the same layers. Also did a cross slope PST in the surface hoar and had 95/100 end, but the overlying block broke apart when I pulled it into the pit. Facets at the ground were 4F- and unreactive. Had no cracking or collapsing. Skiing was some of the best of the year.

Lots of natural sluffing occurring within the new snow. This particular slope has some steep cliffs above it, and point releases from the cliffs would entrain new snow and run 200 ft downhill. Have a picture attached showing 2 of them, but saw about 7 or 8 of these throughout the day. Activity picked up in the early afternoon when the snow picked back up.

Skied various lines in Beehive/Middle today. Kept slope angles under 35. 20 cm new snow, skied deeper at times. Moderate wind transport at ridge lines above 9k. Sometime mid-day the steep rocky terrain above the going home couloir as well as the start zones in Tyler’s avalanched, just new snow, SS-N-D1R2-I. Just guessing about the trigger but didn’t see tracks going in, although there were certainly lots of people around. The sun had some heat to it around 1300, seems probable they reload round then.