| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Summit
Location: Tenderfoot Ridgeline
Scouted Tenderfoot ridgeline and the back bowls for some soft powder stashes – came up dry…but the sunshine and light winds made for a great outing. There has been much wind damage with the strong NW winds during the past week.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
One small crack in an old hard wind slab sitting on faceted snow. See photo. These old stiff slabs are roughly 3-12" thick and stubborn and hard to crack.
Weather
Sunny skies with some haze and high clouds on the horizon.
Cold. Temps in the 0-5F range
Winds were light from the West on the ridgeline
Snow surface
Wind damage is prevalent at Summit Lake. Mid and upper elevations harbored everything from hard sastrugi on the ridgeline as well as in valley bottoms to scoured old wind slab and crusts. Very little to no soft snow was found - in this area anyhow.
Snowpack
Summit lake still sports a very thin snowpack. The primary concern for triggering an avalanche was old hard wind slabs sitting on faceted snow. We had one small crack with little propagation. In general, we found only very stable snow and poor ski/riding conditions (low danger).
Snow depths with elevation:
Parking lot to ~1,500': 2-3" of loose snow over vegetation
1,500 - 2,500': Hard wind affected snow 1-2' deep
2,500' and above: Hard wind affected snow 2-4' deep
Old hard wind slab that took a lot of force to get to crack
Tenderfoot Ridge
Back bowls behind Tenderfoot Ridge
Back bowls behind Tenderfoot Ridge
Wolf track?