BNSF Avalanche Safety Field Observations

Location Name: Snowslip Mountain/Burnout to Shed 5 avalanche paths Observation date: Monday, February 5, 2018 - 17:00	Is this an Avalanche Observation: No

Observation made by: Public

Tabs

Quick Observation

Toured up the southeast ridge of Snowslip Mountain above the Burnout and Shed 5 avalanche paths to an elevation of about 6000 feet. Dug a snowpit there and descended the Shed 5 path back to the rail
Skies were overcast and air temperatures were the low to mid-teens °F. Light snowfall for most of the day with light and variable winds.
New snow accumulations: 18 cm overnight and another 5 cm today in Essex.
Above 6000 feet elevation, we found approximately 50-70 cm of additional snow has accumulated since the middle of last week.
Last night we had a short period of rain. Subsequently we have a new rain crust from the Canyon floor to about 5500 feet elevation. This is buried under 10-20 cm of powder and skis nicely.
Dug our snowpit at 6000 feet in the uppermost starting zone of the Shed 5 path on an ESE aspect, 26° slope. HS = 275 cm
- Performed an extended column test. Had a propagating fracture 55 cm down from the surface on a density change within the storm snow that came in over the weekend, ECTP 27.
- Second ECT yielded no propagating fractures.
- A deep tap test on a suspect looking layer sandwiched between some old windslab resulted in DT 17 Q1, 120 cm down from the surface.
- The Thanksgiving crust and early December facets were present at the bottom of the snowpack.

Saw one small wind slab had released on a steep cut bank just above the rail grade near the east end of the Jake’s avalanche path. This was cross-loaded from the recent winds we experienced at the Canyon Floor over the weekend (Photo 1).
No other avalanche activity observed.
No other obvious signs of instability during the tour.

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:

Avalanche Details

Avalanche Details:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Monday, February 5, 2018 - 17:00