Test snow profile. The snow was surprisingly deep at HS 180, most likely from wind loading. Felt and heard various collapses of the snow during the day while riding snowmobiles. Approximately 30CM of fresh snow over a thin MFC followed by a dense thick snow slab. CT and ECT indicate this MFC is the weakest layer. CTM(16)SC down 30, ECTN(6) down 30
We rode into Yale Creek today. At the head of the creek, we stopped and dug on a south-facing slope at 9000'. We found 30" of new snow that has fallen over the last week on top of an already unstable snowpack. From here we continued up Yale Creek and on a small NE-facing slope, we saw an avalanche that was triggered by snowmobilers within the last couple of days. This avalanche was 2-3' deep and 100 feet wide and failed on weak faceted snow near the ground. It did not run far vertically because it was such a small slope. We dug near here on a SE facing slope and saw a similar setup as earlier with 30"+ of new snow overlaying weak snow.
On our way out, we saw a small freshly triggered avalanche. This was in a small gully and failed on weak snow near the ground 1-2' deep. With poor visibility, we did not get an opportunity to see any avalanches on larger slopes. However, seeing avalanches on small protected slopes is a good indicator that there are likely avalanches on larger steep slopes we could not see.
Wind was calm to light out of the south and snow continued through the day, with 1-2" of snow falling while we rode.
