Like Another Bag of Bricks

The storm was packing a punch in the Swan Range, so we snowmobiled and skied from the reservoir to see the effects of the storm mid-day. The new snow was sitting heavy and creating very dangerous avalanche conditions.

• Soft storm slabs were touchy and we triggered several from our boards. 1 broke above us on a road cut from the skin track. We triggered 1 remotely near a rocky outcrop that stepped down to sugary weak snow above the 12/24 crust. Other snowmobilers in the area reported triggering a lot of small slabs on rollovers with their sleds.
• We got many shooting cracks, collapses, and whole slabs breaking out but not sliding on slopes as low as 25 degrees. These were the result of failures in lower density snow from yesterday under the top-heavy new snow form today, and from small facets collapsing on top of a crust that was buried 1/3. We dug a snow pit near a big whumpf and got propagating results in these facets.
• At the trailhead, numerous parties reported a large natural avalanche crossing Lost Johnny Road and covering their sled tracks with waist-deep debris 175' across sometime mid-day.
• Though warm, wet, and rainy weather below 4,000' caused small rollerballs and tiny sluffs, we didn't think freezing levels crept quite as high as forecasted here.
• We didn't venture to upper elevations, or on slopes steeper than about 30 degrees. We found deep, but heavy powder on low angled, well anchored terrain away from terrain traps.