Avalanche carnage in Essex Creek

Took advantage of clearing skies to document avalanche activity from the storm in Essex Creek drainage

• Mid and upper elevations saw a widespread, storm slab cycle late in the storm (early Sunday morning?).  We could see more than 20 crowns and/or debris piles, D1-1.5, breaking 6-10" on mid storm layers on all aspects.  We were able to get reliable feedback on steep test slopes that this shallow instability has already healed.  
• We noted several thicker wind slabs, up to 2' or 3' thick, that failed mid-storm, likely during the peak of wind loading on Saturday afternoon/night.  These were mostly upper elevation slopes in crossloaded gullies, D1.5 to D2 in size.  This problem did not produce signs of instability today and was unreactive in limited pit samples.
• We observed about 6 persistent slab avalanches that broke on older layers during the storm, D2 to D3 in size, 3 to 6 feet deep.  One we estimate was a half-mile wide.  More than half of these were step-downs, triggered by storm/wind slabs.  These failed on a variety of aspects at mid and upper elevations, generally in rocky areas with variable snow coverage or on steep, crossloaded convexities.  See photos. We did not observe any obvious signs of instability (collapses or shooting cracks) related to this problem today.  Given the recent activity and unreliable feedback associated with persistent slabs, we traveled on benchy, concave or well-anchored terrain generally 35 degrees or less.  We intentionally avoided steep, rocky cirques and bowls. 
• Yesterday's east wind event formed small lenses of fresh windslab, isolated to high elevations near ridgelines. These produced cracks up to 6' long and 10" deep: generally harmless and easy to avoid.