Wet and dry and dangerous

Wet and dry and dangerous

Date
Activity
Skiing

Driving up Bridger Canyon we saw wet loose avalanche across the whole range that ran yesterday afternoon (1/29). Some of these slides appear to have gouged down to the ground, entraining the whole season's snowpack.

We sledded into Fairy Lake, parked, and skinned up to the ridgeline overlooking Frazier Basin. An older, previously reported slide that broke widely was still visible in October Bowl. There were numerous wet loose avalanches on the south facing wall of Frazier, many of which appear to have pulled out dry slabs lower in the path as they ran yesterday afternoon. 

There was a firm refreeze on all slopes this morning. We dug on a NE and SE aspect at 8800 ft and got unstable test results on both aspects (ECTP22 and ECTP12) breaking 1-2 ft deep on the surface hoar/facets from December. The snowpack was 100% dry on the shady slope and only the top 3" was wet on the sunny slope at 1 pm. Was able to push the top couple inches of wet snow downhill on steep rollovers as we descended. 

It was ~60 degrees when we returned to the parking lot at 2:30 pm. 

Region
Bridger Range
Location (from list)
Fairy Lake
Observer Name
Ian Hoyer