Observation Date: 01/03/2020

Route/Location:
The Gash. Skinned up from the lower trailhead to the treed ridge line between the bowls. Then skied back down the way we came up. Coverage is improving and we skied to the truck.

Weather:
Lightly snowing and overcast then cleared when we left.

Wind:
Strong winds out of the SW with active wind loading

New Snow: 0-3″

Avalanche Activity:
Bad visibility prevented us from seeing much. I would imagine if there were any recent slides during the past few days the wind would have filled in the crown and debris. There was about 2-3 feet of snow above 5500 feet and a bunch more up high. We experienced cracking and collapsing between 6000-6500 feet. We dug a pit at about 7200 feet on a NE facing aspect and found 165cm of snow. We found faceted snow buried below all the new snow about 80 cm from the ground. We got PST@35/100cm on this layer. There was also a layer of buried facets about 40cm from the ground and we got PST@50/100cm on this layer. Both of these layers did not inspire much confidence in the snowpack. If we got an avalanche on either of these layers it would be problematic.

Observer: Todd Glew