December 12

Area:
Millcreek

Location:
Bowman trail to Cabin run to Main face out Porter.

Elevation, slope angles and aspects:
6300’ to 10’400’, slope angles to 40°, north, west and northwest.

Avalanche activity:
Cornice kicking along the upper Alexander Basin ridge produced some large appliance sized drops, surface sluffing the result.

Slopes skied:
Cabin run from the ridge down Baker spring, main face of Gobblers from the summit.

Rime formed from northwest wind

Snow surface and conditions:
3-5” new snow overlying a small grained faceted base over a variable crust with distinct facets under. In the upper basins wind scouring had decreased and stiffened the new snow amount. In lower and more sheltered terrain ski tails were breaking through the crust into the weak facets from time to time, especially on steeper hills.

Weather:
Overcast with light snowfall from time to time. Winds from the northwest gusting to perhaps 20 mph.

Snow pit:

pit profile

Evaluation:
Snow is mostly stable. Concern would be from wind load on the east facing in upper Alexander Basin. No activity was noted but possibility existed and would increase with continued loading, since the old surface consisted mainly of faceted snow. Concern for the future would be from the weak snow underlying the wind crust. The crust will support a load resulting in significant build up prior to failure and likelihood of a larger more widespread slide if and when failure occurs.

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