18-19

A rider reported: "I had just rode up and was on my way down when it broke off right beside me. I was approximately 80 yards to the north of the slide when it broke."

From e-mail: "We went up to Fairy Lake yesterday... to the north facing trees right off of the lake.  The wind has really done a number on the whole area, I haven't seen it like this before.  Anyway we started up and the snow was really weird.  We'd be on top of a hard wind slab and then ten feet later punch through it and be wallowing in sugar up to our knees.... the weirdness continued as we tried working east and west across the face looking for more stable snow.  After we'd climbed about 350 feet above the lake I had a big whoomp and the snow I was on collapsed about a foot, and cracks shot out about 50 feet from me. This was at about 8:30 yesterday morning."

Seperate group, same area: "ECTP 3 on a northwest exposure. Snow depth was about 60 cm where this test was taken. Dug another pit on same aspect with a 120cm base, which fractured at 27 hits, but did not propegate."

"Witnessed this road cut collapse in hyalite today , by the Palisades parking lot. Easily a foot of dense snow on 12-18" of sugar. Audible collapse as my dog climbed the embankment." C. Bieniek

 This avalanche was on a northeast slope on Ross Peak. The observation reported "very firm thick wind slabs with ground level facets" nearby. Photo: J. Johnson