Schweitzer had the biggest inbounds slide Ive seen there in 20 years........12' crown went from the top of the lakeside chutes all the way over colburn lake! (patrol set it off, but it was huge)
schwz
- Thread starter oldgrowthpaddlecompany
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Is that it?!
looks familiar
PowderPanda
Staff member
INSANE!!! Travel safe in the backcountry... This is skier packed terrain, the weight of theta wind slab new snow broke it down to the ground. I've never seen that either in the 20 yrs I've been riding here.
I was told it broke at the Nov.29 layer
Definitely broke on Thanksgiving buried surface hoar I would say. Let's face it, with all the snow and wind we've had up here this week, it is not too much of a surprise as the dragons have been lining up for a big slide all season. Cornices have been growing rapidly on leeward aspects. Luckily, that is not a slope any of us would jump onto in these conditions if it were in the back country proper...right guys?
I've been tracking the latest buried surface hoar layer over the past few days. It has gone from 14" down to 20" to 26" yesterday, and 10" new in my driveway at 4,700' this morning.... Clean shears. Lots of sluffing, but cracking is isolated mainly to wind exposed areas. Awesome skiing...deep trail breaking! Get it before the warm-up
I've been tracking the latest buried surface hoar layer over the past few days. It has gone from 14" down to 20" to 26" yesterday, and 10" new in my driveway at 4,700' this morning.... Clean shears. Lots of sluffing, but cracking is isolated mainly to wind exposed areas. Awesome skiing...deep trail breaking! Get it before the warm-up
PowderPanda
Staff member
Warm up has hit.. Hey TinyWorld.. Are you seeing that surface hoar, on all aspects or just N/NE? Down in the Silver Valley S/SE seems to be decomposing and consolidating... however that's 40+ miles South of you.
warm up hit here as well...
I found the Nov. Buried surface hoar was mainly N, NE as we had some sun and wind that took care of it on the S, SW exposures. This latest buried Surface hoar (the 3rd major one by my count) I can find on all aspects as of yesterday (Sunday). It was interesting to watch, day-by-day as it got deeper with each dump. Started at about 14" and was somewhere in the 27" range on Saturday. Things started to stabilize as the weather warmed b/n Sat. and Sun. Saturday you couldn't take a step without cracks and/or collapsing under foot. Any convex roll would pop...spooky fun I call it.
Yesterday, no cracks, no collapsing and much more wind affect near ridges and summits. It was getting pretty slabby up high. Down low it still skied pretty good for wetter snow. No rain yet today, just warm, so I would guess the surface hoar layer is still there hiding.
Haven't been to Priest in a week or so as access just got too difficult. Much easier to hit the back country with chair access.
I found the Nov. Buried surface hoar was mainly N, NE as we had some sun and wind that took care of it on the S, SW exposures. This latest buried Surface hoar (the 3rd major one by my count) I can find on all aspects as of yesterday (Sunday). It was interesting to watch, day-by-day as it got deeper with each dump. Started at about 14" and was somewhere in the 27" range on Saturday. Things started to stabilize as the weather warmed b/n Sat. and Sun. Saturday you couldn't take a step without cracks and/or collapsing under foot. Any convex roll would pop...spooky fun I call it.
Yesterday, no cracks, no collapsing and much more wind affect near ridges and summits. It was getting pretty slabby up high. Down low it still skied pretty good for wetter snow. No rain yet today, just warm, so I would guess the surface hoar layer is still there hiding.
Haven't been to Priest in a week or so as access just got too difficult. Much easier to hit the back country with chair access.
I had an enlightening conversation with a former high-level Schweitzer employee that adds some nuance to this discussion:
His opinion is that the new Sky House building is acting as a wind break, allowing more wind transported snow to land and accumulate in the area of this slide. So the reason that this hasn't happened before is that previously the unblocked wind was able to transport the snow further down the slope. He said that it's a consequence that was foreseen and thoroughly discussed prior to the building of the Sky House.
This is not to discount the other factors (buried persistent layers and rapid loading, etc) but it was something that I hadn't considered, so I thought I'd share.
His opinion is that the new Sky House building is acting as a wind break, allowing more wind transported snow to land and accumulate in the area of this slide. So the reason that this hasn't happened before is that previously the unblocked wind was able to transport the snow further down the slope. He said that it's a consequence that was foreseen and thoroughly discussed prior to the building of the Sky House.
This is not to discount the other factors (buried persistent layers and rapid loading, etc) but it was something that I hadn't considered, so I thought I'd share.
Aaaand they buried the explosives too deeply.
PowderPanda
Staff member