Travelling along the Emma Ridge to investigate a report of an avalanche on the South face of the Emma Ridge in the Binx's path I found very sensitive cornices as large as I've seen all season. There was evidence of a small slab that released early in the day in Two Dogs. It looked to be about 40' wide and 3'deep and was triggered by a natural cornice failure. I found other cornices very sensitive and with good visibility of the terrain below I stepped on a few larger ones to see what they would do.

On approach the cornice failed and released a D2 slab that failed at depth hoar on the steep slope below the Cottonwood Ridgeline.

The slab was about 3.5' deep and failed at facets at the ground. This slope is likely a repeater and often holds rotten snow in the rocks. It travelled to the bottom of the steep terrain and stopped slightly below the transition to lower angle. The gusty strong SSW winds were stripping the upper starting zones of the Emma Ridge and loading the N side of the Cottonwood Ridgeline.

Cornices were found to be large and sensitive. The wind was also loading all of the skiers right sides (east aspects) of each terrain feature on the south face of the ridge. Windslabs will be found on all similar terrain on the North side of the LCC highway tomorrow.