December 15

Willow-Beartrap

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

7800-10200', angles approaching 35°, all aspects

Snow conditions

The recent large storm has settled nicely.

Surface hoar and near surface recrystalized is already forming in sheltered terrain down off ridges.

conehead-hoar

Ski penetration 4-8", boot penetration variable, dependent on old layering, to the ground in places.

Collapsing continues but, not with the "soil your shorts" power and consistency experienced two days ago. Stress fractures accompany some collapses.

South facing saw enough sun to crust by late afternoon.

Avalanche activity

Went looking at slide activity reported yesterday.

west-willow

 

west-willow-crown-profile

In addition, the latest word has a large slide released in South Monitor

so-monitor

after this photo was taken.

Weather

Partly cloudy skies, moderate temperatures. Winds from the southwest, gusting to 20 mph.

Higher winds were observed to the south and west, moving snow on 11000' peaks.

windy

Snow pit

beartrap-snow-profile

Mid slope slide in upper Beartrap. Slide was 20+ feet wide, running downhill a short distance. Of interest, it was new snow only.

Evaluation

"We pray for a wallop to wash our troubles away and start fresh," said a veteran forecaster.

Would not expect any sort of clean out of weak layering because of the complex nature of old snow layering. Extensive natural activity from areas with the weakest old snow was observed.

gully

Those areas with crust-facet sandwiches, especially those with stout crust, remain in place waiting for more load or a trigger.

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December 15 journal

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