Post Storm Loop - Overlord Shoulder, Whirlwind Peak

Quick report

Weather

windy, sunny, cold

Ride Type

mellowSlopes

Stayed Away

steepSlopes

Riding Quality

good

Snow Conditions

powder, windAffected

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSnow, avalancheConditionSlab

Went to overlord shoulder and back to Whirlwind. Stuck to mellow terrain. Evidence of some avalanches from storm (size 1s, steeper terrain) Surprisingly stable though we stayed away from steep slopes. No whumpfing or settlements noted during our day. Heavy wind at ride top (20-30 knots or so - best guess). Blowing primarily West, South-west. Dug a pit on west aspect, at about 2200 meters. Rain crust 100 cm down, storm snow evident down to 20-30 cms. Wind affected. Was not really consolidating into cohesive slabs. We had: -small fracture with no propagation at medium 5 (elbow) 30 cms down (recent storm/wind deposited snow). Fracture form was progressive compression. -fracture at hard 2 (from the shoulder) at 50 cms down, no propagation (resistant planar) -fracture at 70 cms down at hard 10 (from the shoulder), no propagation (non planar break) Overall good day, stability was more than we expected.

Weather

Wind Speed

windSpeedStrong

Blowing Snow

moderate

Wind Direction

W

New Snow24 Hours

30

Howling wind at ridge tops. Blowing primarily from the West/Southwest

Snowpack

Obs Type

point

Site Aspect

W

Test Fracture

resistant

Test Initiation

hard

Site Elevation Band

alp

Surface Conditions

newSnow

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

stormSnow, crust

Dug a pit on west aspect, at about 2200 meters. Rain crust 100 cm down, storm snow evident down to 20-30 cms. Wind affected. Was not really consolidating into cohesive slabs. We had: -small fracture with no propagation at medium 5 (elbow) 30 cms down (recent storm/wind deposited snow). Fracture form was progressive compression. -fracture at hard 2 (from the shoulder) at 50 cms down, no propagation (resistant planar) -fracture at 70 cms down at hard 10 (from the shoulder), no propagation (non planar break) Overall good day, stability was more than we expected.

Avalanche

Trigger Type

natural

Avalanche Size

1

Number Of Avalanches

2-5

Start Zone Elevation Band

alp

Avalanche Occurrence Datetime

2024-12-18T02:00:00.000Z