Ripples off of Ghoulies
Location Name: Ghoulie Point Observation date: Thursday, December 28, 2017 - 13:00 |
Is this an Avalanche Observation: Yes |
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Observation made by: Public
Location
Tabs
Avalanche Details:
Date and Time of Avalanche:
Thursday, December 28, 2017 - 13:00
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Failure Plane/Weak Layer:
New/old snow interface
Trigger:
natural
Start Zone Slope Angle:
35
Aspect:
Northeast
Starting Elevation:
above-treeline
Destructive Size:
D1 Relatively harmless to people.
Relative Size:
R1 Very Small
Crown Height:
Less than 1 ft
Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):
20ft.
Avalanche Width (Average width):
25ft.
Number of people caught:
0
Number of partial burials:
0
Number of full burials:
0
Avalanche Location:
Saw a handful of small pockets of "rippled" looking snow (micro avalanches). These pockets were widespread on protected slopes above 35 degrees. They seemed to be the new snowfall (4-6" deep) forming a cohesive enough slab to propogate short distances across the recently buried surface hoar layer. These touchy, yet harmless micro-avalanches triggered predictably while skiing today. Any turn near a treewell or on small terrain features approaching 35 degrees would initiate a shallow, shooting cracks and window-pane style fractures. The snow would almost immediately arrest, leaving the surface appearing rippled.
A very managable problem today in mellow terrain, but potentially a larger problem with the forecasted snowfall over the next couple days.