February 19
Silver Days Cardiff Mineral
(east bowl of silver fork, oingo boingo, holy toledo, east mineral)
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7300-10200', angles over 35°, all aspects except south facing.
Snow conditions
4-10" new snow over a variable mostly crusted base.
There were several density changes within the new, sluffing common.
Strong winds from the southeast loaded northwest facing, crossloading and scouring other aspects, early in the day.
Weather
Snow, heavy at times, all day. Moderate temperatures. Winds were strong from the south east, decreasing.
Snow pit
Why no snow pits?
Easy to sum that up with
"spatial variability".
Snow is so variable that a snow pit in one location and another ten feet away will give much different results.
Rain crust on the surface in a scoured starting zone is buried and dissolving in the run out.
Avalanche activity
Soft slab was triggered, Holy Toledo, northwest facing on entry.
Slide was about a foot deep and 20' wide.
It spread a little with descent, total distance after additional ski cuts was 800' vertical or so.
Natural point release sluff initiating a shallow new snow slide on a density change in East Mineral, wnw facing in the afternoon.
Evaluation
Instability was from wind drifting and density changes.
Would expect a continuation, possible increase, with continued snow fall.
Ski cutting was working well in starting zones and break overs.
Increasing depths would decrease reliability of ski cuts.
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