Island Park
In the last five days, this area has received snowfall containing 4.5-5.3 inches of water which has settled to about 3 feet of new snow. Winds last sunday night from the southwest reached speeds up to 80 mph before easing, but then they blew from the north today.
We saw a handful of avalanches above treeline terrain that seemed to be wind slabs. However wind and snow had obscured them and I suspect there had been a lot more.
No cracking in the new snow and one possible collapse. Interestingly - My stability test scores had actually improved since Friday when there was less new snow. They broke and propagated just under a crust under the new snow. ECTP12's on Friday. ECTN & ECTP25 today. The reason is that they have been breaking on old, broken snowflakes....not facets.
Key points
- The new snow seemed mostly stable on sheltered slopes
- Wind loading is the main issue.
- With this kind of loading, it often finds weaknesses in the snowpack. I don't expect any moster slides, but also wouldn't be surprised to hear of one being triggered if tomorrow were a busy weekend day with lots of people out
- Avoid alpine terrain above treeline where winds have drifted lots of snow. Avoid hanging out in runout zones of big paths