Professional Observation
Basic Information
Observation Details
Observation Date:
March 12, 2023Submitted:
March 12, 2023Observer:
Barbara Wanner | Key ObserverZone or Region:
Lee ViningLocation:
Copper Mountain Sloughs and Slab AvalancheSigns of Unstable Snow
Recent Avalanches?
YesCracking?
None ExperiencedCollapsing?
None ExperiencedAdvanced Information
Weather Summary
Cloud Cover:
OvercastWind:
Light , SWAvalanche Observations
Avalanche Problems
On my low angle ridge line ski tour today I saw this interesting avalanche on Copper Mountain. Many loose snow sloughs or point release avalanches ran in the steep gullies on SE-E-NE aspects. All of them started small but ended up entraining massive amounts of snow. Some of them started as high as 8800 ft. and ran roughly 1600 vertical feet down and way out into the flat meadow below Copper Mountain. One of these loose snow avalanches triggered a slab avalanche in the lower third of it’s path. This illustrates the fact that we are still dealing with buried persistent weak layers that can be triggered by a smaller natural or skier triggered avalanches even at low elevation in very heavy, moist snow.
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