Observation Date: 01/19/2020

Route/Location:
Bass Ck/ Lappi Lk area, NE facing aspect just below 8400’elev. Slope angle slightly below 30°.

Weather:
Light snow on Saturday/Sun; calm high pressure conditions on Sunday.

Wind:
N/A

New Snow: 12+”

Avalanche Activity:
Multiple point releases and roller balls on rocky S. facing slopes during heat of day (from 1-3pm) on Sunday at elevations above 6k. Steep areas observed across the canyon on south sides of lil joe&Big joe peaks with thin cover/basal rock slabs were sluffing off the last 2 weeks worth of new snow quickly.

Other Comments:
Dug pit at 8350 on NE aspect bowl above lappi lk near ridge line results were mostly stabil. Over two days of skiing, no whompfing/slides or collapsing were observed in skin tracks. Pit yielded slightly different results. 220 cm of snow was the depth of the base near 8k. New snow on top was 20-30cm with density increasing with depth. Preformed an ECT. Resulted in a slab fail/shear clean off at 45cm depth @21 and a 2nd larger more energetic/robust slab @90cm depth fail/shear @30 hard whacks. The 90cm deepslab sheared at crustal layer when encouraged by shovel and propagated laterally along the slope. After ECT did a crude ruschblock test that did not produce any propagations with a dozen big stomps from the uphill side. Kinda spooky 90cm buried layer. On opposite side of ridge (south facing into Kootenai Ck drainage) there was a large recent crown just below ridgeline cornice from a natural slide that must have occurred just before Saturday. Length of crown estimation 800′ or more. Did not ski anything of significance over 30°; stuck to the trees and ran some fun shin to knee deep pow laps that proved many smiles.

Observer: K2 K2