A wet loose snow avalanche on the southeast aspect on Mt Blackmore at 9700 to 9800 feet elevation. Photo: C Daniels
From Obs: “We were skinning in the valley to the East of Woody Ridge near the North end and observed a wet slide occur naturally due to a point release, moving about 500 ft downslope. While that was occurring it remotely triggered a dry slab avalanche approx. 50-100 ft adjacent on the same slope and elevation. The crown appeared to be 3 ft deep, possibly thicker, but we were viewing from afar so hard to tell. 9500 ft elevation, East aspect. 12:02 PM March 17, 2024. Air temp approx. 30F clear skies all day.”
On the east side of Woody Ridge, skiers watched a wet, loose snow avalanche trigger a dry slab avalanche on March 17. photo: N Iltis
On the east side of Woody Ridge, skiers watched a wet, loose snow avalanche trigger a dry slab avalanche on March 17. photo: N Iltis
From IG:
Southeast aspect on Mt Blackmore. Unknown time and date. Elevation 9700 to 9800’
We were skinning in the valley to the East of Woody Ridge near the North end and observed a wet slide occur naturally due to a point release, moving about 500 ft downslope. While that was occurring it remotely triggered a dry slab avalanche approx. 50-100 ft adjacent on the same slope and elevation. The crown appeared to be 3 ft deep, possibly thicker, but we were viewing from afar so hard to tell. 9500 ft elevation, East aspect. 12:02 PM March 17, 2024. Air temp approx. 30F clear skies all day.
This slide was remotely triggered by a skier from the ridgeline on 3/14/24. Photo: E. Knoff
From FB message 2/11/24: "Picket Pin Mountain yesterday. We triggered it but weren't anywhere near it"
We went on a safari of different snow conditions at Beehive today. We toured up to the prayer flags, looked into the top of Bear Basin on southeast and northeast aspects, and then returned to Beehive through the north edge of Tyler's. We dug a pit in the starting zone of Tyler's and were a bit surprised by an ECTP11 on basal depth hoar. There were percolation columns through the upper half of the snowpack and the lower two thirds of the snowpack were moist. You could make a snowball. The depth hoar remains very weak and F+ hardness. The stout melt freeze crust was 3" thick on the southwest aspect.
Surface snow conditions varied wildly as is often the case in the spring. There was cold powder on the northern half of the compass. The crust had broken down by 11 AM on the southeast aspect and the top 3-5" were wet and rollerballs were easy to push downhill. The southwest aspect was just starting to soften as we left at 1 PM. If we continue to get good overnight freezes, we will only have to worry about wet, loose snow avalanches. Wet slab activity should be limited if there is any.
