21-22

From an obsevation: Skied up towards Arrowhead Bowl from Fairy Lake road. Snowpack is still very thin in the trees as you ascend towards the ridge. Strong westerly winds and exposed rocks deterred us from skiing the bowl itself. Down low we found variable conditions ranging from a few cm of graupel to a few cm of windboard and ice in places. We dug a pit at 8140 feet, 143º SE. The snowpack is 55 cm deep with a very distinct knife hard crust layer from 0-20cm above the ground, we were thinking that could be due to a rain on snow event that fell on top of the October snow.

Skied up towards Arrowhead Bowl from Fairy Lake road. Snowpack is still very thin in the trees as you ascend towards the ridge. Strong westerly winds and exposed rocks deterred us from skiing the bowl itself. Down low we found variable conditions ranging from a few cm of graupel to a few cm of windboard and ice in places. We dug a pit at 8140 feet, 143º SE. The snowpack is 55 cm deep with a very distinct knife hard crust layer from 0-20cm above the ground, we were thinking that could be due to a rain on snow event that fell on top of the October snow. There is also a distinct knife crust 40 cm above the ground with new snow/wind blown snow on top of that. Weather today was mostly clear with a few scattered clouds and consistent winds, with very strong gusts from the west.

Waiting for my kid at biathlon, and using nice hunting binoculars, I am seeing zero natural avalanches in the northern Bridgers.

It does look like there is some lateral snow transport, N or S component to the wind. From binoculars, 2 miles away., take with grain of salt.

Alex Dunn, are you getting these? You should, to potentially incorporate to your pages.

Skied from Potosi trailhead up past Bell Lake and on the east shoulder of Thompson Peak. Noticed a recent avalanche (looked cornice fall related) on a different N/NE facing slope at the head of the basin just under a ridge line at around 10,000 ft in elevation. Snowpit at 9100 ft showed many different crusts ranging from the top of the snowpack to the bed surface. Our layers of concern were two distinct crusts 76cm and 80cm from the ground and then a buried layer of small facets between 45-58cm from the ground. The snowpilot data provides further detail. We performed an ECT test with a result of ECTN15 @ ~81cm BRK/Q3. The total snow depth varied slightly in our location but averaged to around 105/110 cm in depth. The surrounding ridgelines had active wind loading but the basin itself was protected. Conditions were clear and calm the entire day.