February 20
Bowman trail, Yellow Jacket, shoulder of Gobblers, Middle bowl -Alexander Basin
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
6200'-10k, angles over 35°, north, east and west facing aspects.
Snow conditions
1"-5" new snow, mostly graupel, over a crusted base.
Crust was supportable, firm below about 8500', spongy above that elevation.
No cracking, no collapsing, no sluffing.
There are areas, notably Cabin run on Gobblers, which have been scoured to the old crusted surface(wear your mouthpiece).
Lower elevations have only an inch or so of fresh snow making the exit interesting.
Weather
Overcast to partly cloudy skies, cool temperatures and light wind from the west.
Avalanche activity
Interesting slide observed in West Porter.
It was more recent than other slides and has ski tracks descending the debris.
I took this photo on the 13th.
From today
Whaddya figure?
Alexander Basin has slides encompassing 180° in the upper elevations, including East chute, Middle bowl, northwest Wilson chutes and Toots to Boot.
Mid canyon had also slid on north facing. Debris made it to the flats with some vegetation removed.
Observed activity with the exception of West Porter, is all from the windy-stormy period, February 14-15.
The slide paths are a little lumpy for skiing, needs more snow.
Evaluation
Good stability in the area traveled. Most paths have cleaned out.
Some lingering potential in upper elevation terrain, especially wind drifted, with isolated possibility of deeper layer release.
Stout bridging with cool temperatures eliminating most lower layer weakness.
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