November 21

Spruces, Reynolds, Big Water, Spruces

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

7400-9k, angles over 35°, north east and west facing

Snow conditions

8-12" at the trailhead allowed ski travel up and down from the get go.

That amount increased to around 30" in sheltered shady terrain.

4-6" during the day, inverted with a high graupel content.

new-layer

Weather

Snow, heavy at times for most of the day.Wnds were swirling and variable off the ridges, gusting over 20 mph in exposed terrain

Avalanche activity

Triggered an avalanche on Reynolds face.

There was very shallow snow on the face. I was ski cutting through the drifting, just below the ridge crest

crown-face

It was a remote trigger, initiating during the ski cut. I did feel a collapse during the cut but, observed the avalanche after partial descent.

I'm guessing collapse failure on facets below the mid November rime crust

Snow pit

big-water-snow-profile

Evaluation

New snow instabilities usually heal quickly. Graupel pooling on lower slope angles may slow that healing.

Cranking winds from, primarily, a southerly direction for days have eliminated an objective instability evaluation.

There is faceted snow surrounding at least two layers so, potential exists for remote triggering.

Conservative terrain choices would be the best bet, lacking intimate knowledge of layering on the chosen line.

november 21 journal

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