Observation Date: 01/23/2021

Route/Location:
Parked two switchbacks below the Sweeney creek Trailhead and made our way along the ridgeline, stopping short of the false summit before the true summit. We only skied in low angle terrain for the day.

Weather:
Blue skies all day with pockets of fog lifting up from the drainage. Forecast called for 13-24 degrees throughout the day.

Wind:
Little to no wind. Forecast called for wind W11 mph but we didn’t observe that during our trip.

New Snow: No New Snow

Avalanche Activity:
A couple of small point releases in the NE bowl observed from the ridge somewhere around 8200-8500 in elevation. There is still the very obvious break in a cornice that hasn’t released along the ridgeline from a previous observation. We kept our distance.

Other Comments:
Did an extended column test at 8637 elevation on a 14 degree ENE facing slope. Total snow depth was 155cm. ECTN 22 20cm down on the rain crust layer. We couldn’t get anything to propogate lower down no matter how hard we tried.

Snowpack overall looked relatively stable. I’d be a little more skeptical on steep slopes on the NE side given the obvious wind drifted slow and likely variability in snowpack depths but what we did ski was nice soft, light snow.

Observer: Morgan Throckmorton