AVALANCHE OBSERVATION Mt. Wood South East/ East face Drainage: |
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Submission Info Jonathan Tuttle Sunday, March 12, 2017 - 1:30pm |
Red Flags:
Recent avalanche activity
Rapid warming
Obvious avalanche path
Terrain Trap
Avalanche Type:
Wet
Loose/Point-Release
Slope:
35degrees
Trigger type:
Skier
Crown Height:
1 ft
Aspect:
Southeast
Weak Layer:
Old Snow
Avalanche Width:
25ft.
Terrain:
Below Treeline
Elevation:
8 500ft.
Bed Surface:
Old Snow
Avalanche Length:
75ft.
Number of similar avalanches:
5-10
Number of partial burials:
0
Number of full burials:
0
Blowing Snow:
No
Cloud Cover:
25% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature:
Above Freezing
Precipitation:
None
Air temperature trend:
Warming
Accumulation rate:
None
More detailed information about the weather:
Very warm and little wind. Snow softened to good corn skiing conditions on SE facing slopes at around 10:30am at an elevation of around 10,000, By noon the snow below 10500 was very soft. A small layer of near surface facets were present on NE facing slopes above 10500 and plenty of sastrugi was still present. Hard snow in gullies 12500-11000 feet with some breakable crust. About 35cm ski pole (handle end) penetration at 2pm at 9000 feet SE slope.
Number of People Caught:
0
Mt. Wood
37° 48' 17.1576" N, 119° 9' 19.7388" W
See map: Google Maps
Very small loose wet slide triggered on a traverse by a single skier near the base of a rock face around 1:30pm. Several larger loose wet slides went naturally in gullies/drainages (S, SE, E, SW aspects, all below 9200ft) taking down several small to medium size trees/brushes and leaving large debris blocks(blocks up to 3 feet in diameter).