February 27

Bowman-Pole canyon-Porter fork

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

6200-10400', angles over 35°, all aspects except south facing.

Snow conditions

6-10" of light density storm snow over the wind created high density storm snow.

High density layer was supportable with only occasional sinking through on the up.

Wind, of course, scoured windward

wind-scoured

and drifted lee aspects, mostly near the ridges.

Weather

Partly cloudy skies with a mid elevation cloud layer passing through at times for most of the day. Moderate temperatures. Winds were from the west, gusting along the ridges at 20 mph or so.

Avalanche activity

Light density snow ending the storm produced sluffing

raymond-slabs

on steeper slopes, mostly east and north facing.

silver-bell-slab

Got a look at the large slide in the back bowls of Mill B south

yer-crazy-slide

finding what appears to be a recent addition

yer-crazy-crown

in the area I call, yer crazy.

zoom

Zooming on the confusor suggests it ran during the windy period on Saturday and may be close to a full depth slide.

Evaluation

Snow in the area was mostly stable.

Photos indicate it was not so during the storm, at least in Mill B.

Weather guessers suggest continued wind at upper elevations so, instability from drifting continues.

Wet activity possible with warming.

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