Date of Observation: 11/15/2022
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt. Baldy, traveled on E to N aspects to 11,900′
Observed avalanche activity: Yes
Avalanches: Intentionally ski triggered a pair of small slab avalanches on an east facing, cross drifted ridge near treeline. The slabs were up to 12″ thick, ~25 ft wide, 4F+ on average. One previous natural on a NE aspect, likely from last week. All small in size.
Weather: Too cold for my toes. Light breeze, no snow transport. Scattered cloud cover. An inch of snow in the past 24 hours.
Snowpack: Found ourselves on a particularly chatty east facing slope that produced numerous collapses and shooting cracks ranging from 10 to 50 feet, failing on a thin, faceted crust (Nov 3). Once we got to a ridge where it was more drifted, we popped a couple of slabs by collapsing the slope while skinning. No other signs of instability on other slopes.
Photos:
[[accordion id=”my-accordion”]
[accordion_item title=”Avalanche Report #1″ parent_id=”my-accordion” open=”false”]Estimated avalanche date: 11/15/2022
Number of Avalanches: 2
Location
Location: Mount Baldy
Location Specific:
Start Zone Elevation: NTL: Near Tree Line
Aspect: E
Characteristics
Trigger: Skier
Trigger modifier: Controlled
Type: Soft Slab
Failure Plane: Old snow
Size
Relative Size: R1 very small
Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people
Avg. crown height (inches): 10
Avg. width (feet):
Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught:
# of partial burials:
# of full burials:
Additional comments:
[/accordion_item]
[accordion_item title=”Avalanche Report #2″ parent_id=”my-accordion” open=”false”]
Estimated avalanche date: 11/10/2022
Number of Avalanches: 1
Location
Location: Mount Baldy
Location Specific:
Start Zone Elevation: ATL: Above Tree Line
Aspect: NE
Characteristics
Trigger: Natural
Trigger modifier:
Type: Soft Slab
Failure Plane: Unknown
Size
Relative Size: R1 very small
Destructive Size: D1- Relatively harmless to people
Avg. crown height (inches):
Avg. width (feet):
Avg. vertical run (feet):
Involvements
# of people caught:
# of partial burials:
# of full burials:
Additional comments: Emerald Bowl. Failure date best guess.
[/accordion_item]
[/accordion]]
5619