Recent Avalanches

Poor Snowpack Structure

Recent avalanches observed included: a) a large slide ran NW/W along the Jardine to Elmer ridge line for approximately 0.5 mile wide and at least 500' vertical. This avalanche repeated from earlier in the season and has a very impressive crown of perhaps >6' depth in sections. It appears to have repeated following or late during our last storm cycle as dirt, downed trees and rocks are visible. b) Further to the N, the entire WNW face of Fudd extending into Birch Canyon also has slid, though earlier in February as recent snowfall is partially covering the crown and rocks and debris in the multiple slide paths. The size of the slope is laterally >0.5 miles and debris travelled over 1500' vertical. c) Two smaller NW aspect slides were detected on steep rocky slopes at ~7500'. d) One E hard wind slab 0.5-1.0' deep which ran sometime in the previous few days was laterally 0.1 mile and ran no more than 200' off a sub ridge at 6500'. e) Four small wet slabs, one on SW and three on NE occurred between 7500 - 8900'. None of these were large but are indicative of the influence of very warm temperatures on the very wet snowpack.