Apex Proper
Quick reportolsonizak ยท Apr 7, 2024
Quick report
- Weather
- cloudy, sunny, windy
- Ride Type
- sunnySlopes, steepSlopes, alpineSlopes, mellowSlopes, openTrees
- Riding Quality
- good
- Snow Conditions
- windAffected, powder
Toured around the resort to head up to Apex proper to check out some of chutes and couloirs in the bowl. It was a gorgeous spring day with enough soft dry storm snow above the crust to keep you from feeling it in most places. As expected the bowls had seen significant wind effect creating some thin wind slabs. Snow depth was highly variable depending on aspect and elevation but still good coverage all around. We noticed a few small cornices and cut a couple small wind slabs but otherwise it was a successful and uneventful day
Weather
- Wind Speed
- windSpeedModerate
- Blowing Snow
- light
- Sky Condition
- scatteredClouds
- Snowfall Rate
- 1
- Wind Direction
- SW
- Storm Start Date
- 2024-04-05
- Storm Snow Amount
- 15
- Precipitation Type
- snow
Pretty classic spring weather. A bit of blue sky and sun in the morning which got covered by some scattered clouds that were just enough to keep the temps from rising too high. Although it did still get warm when the sun peaked out no signs of critical warming were observed. There were some afternoon flurries that were mostly insignificant with the exception of a brief but heavy graupel shower which accumulated about 1cm. Southerly ridge top winds were light to moderate with some fairly strong gusts, enough to blow snow and keep the tower anemometer humming
Snowpack
- Obs Type
- summary
- Site Aspect
- N, NW, NE
- Site Elevation
- 2150
- Ski Penetration
- 5
- Foot Penetration
- 15
- Cracking Observed
- 1
- Site Elevation Band
- alp
- Surface Conditions
- newSnow, variable
Snowpack depths were variable due to wind affect. About 15cm of light dry snow was redistributed by fairly strong winds either burying or exposing the melt freeze crust below which was mostly supportive. On the skin track we could feel a thin wind slab in spots and saw some cracks, but no significant propagation
Avalanche
- Run Length
- 5
- Slab Width
- 2
- Trigger Type
- skier
- Wind Exposure
- crossLoadedSlope
- Avalanche Size
- 1
- Slab Thickness
- 10
- Trigger Sub Type
- intentional
- Start Zone Aspect
- N
- Vegetation Cover
- openSlope
- Start Zone Incline
- 35
- Avalanche Character
- windSlab
- Crust Near Weak Layer
- 1
- Number Of Avalanches
- 2-5
- Start Zone Elevation
- 2110
- Runout Zone Elevation
- 2100
- Start Zone Elevation Band
- alp
- Avalanche Occurrence Datetime
- 2024-04-07T21:00:00.000Z
Cut a couple of small wind slabs in the bottom portion of a steep alpine chute. The only observed propagation was cracks bridging our tracks. We also saw what appeared to be a small refrozen wet loose near the base of the main couloir