Observation Date: 04/11/2020

Route/Location:
Hart Lake area

Weather:
Hot and Sunny

Wind:
calm

New Snow: No New Snow

Avalanche Activity:
Last Friday while rambling around Chaffin creek I observed a variety of relatively fresh avalanches on a variety of aspects. On a SE facing slope at about 8500 feet I saw a fairly fresh wet slab that broke about 2 feet deep and 100 feet wide on a steep convex rollover. As is the case with wet slabs, the debris pile was very large relative to the crown. On a NE facing slope off the south ridge of the Shard I observed a very large, cornice triggered persistent slab that appeared to have run sometime earlier in the week. I dug a variety of pits on several aspects and had uniformly unreactive ECT results.

Other Comments:
I feel that we’re facing the most complex instabilities we’ve had all year. There are surface hoar and near surface facet layers buried all over the place, but it’s hard to tell where even with digging. Even though my pits all had unreactive results, the avalanches all around me told a different story. With a load of new snow over the weekend and more coming up, I’d say it will continue to be challenging to gauge how much risk you’re actually assuming for the next few weeks, especially on high northerly slopes.

Observer: Adam Pohl