Observation Date: 03/02/2018

Route/Location:
Downing Mountain Area

Weather:
Broken sky in the morning with moderate to strong Southerly winds and periods of snow in the afternoon. Temps below freezing above 6500′

Wind:
Moderate gusting strong out of the S. In the afternoon. Especially at Ridgeline. Knocked over two people!

New Snow: 0-3″

Avalanche Activity:
Triggered some dry loose on steep northeast facing features around 7000′

Other Comments:
Very soft storm slab about 20-30cm deep was reactive in CTs but the slab really wasn’t cohesive enough to be a problem we’re we observed it. Thin layer of FCxr above first 3cm crust formed at the beginning of Feb. Showed propagation likely result in our PST on a N. aspect @6800′ (this same layer didn’t show propagation on an ECT) Above about 8000′ the crust layers seem to diminish. We thought small isolated wind slabs would be likely on lee terrain features especially near ridgwline, likely loose dry in steeper shaded terrain and unlikely persistent slab problems for the day.

Observer: George D’Angelo