Observation Date: 01/12/2020

Route/Location:
Little St. Joe, East Bowls

Weather:
Intermittent squalls and sun, 2-4 inches throughout the day.

Wind:
moderate, 10-15mph at ridgeline.

New Snow: 12+”

Avalanche Activity:
Quite a bit of very light new snow, probably 70+cm in this storm cycle, which constitutes the bulk of the snowpack above 7000 feet. The underlying snow surface is shallow and weak, and we experienced many instances where we punched through the storm layer into unsupportable facets underneath.

We stuck to low angle terrain and did not observe any instabilities on small test slopes, although we had a couple small collapses while skinning. We spoke to another party who stepped into avalanche terrain and had a slope collapse mid run, which luckily didn’t result in an avalanche.

Other Comments:
Fantastic deep-powder conditions, but a bit spooky with numerous barely submerged rocks and stumps. Extremely thin snowpack below 6000 feet. It’s possible to ski the road all the way to the lower Bass Creek trailhead, but only if you don’t care about your bases.

Observer: Adam Pohl