I went to this area because it normally has a much thinner snowpack, potentially a thinner slab, and more pronounced weak layers than the Tenmile Range. I found a shallower snowpack that wasn't overly weak or shallow. Near treeline, the snowpack on northerly-facing slopes averaged 165 cm for snow depth. Weak layers buried in mid-winter were non-distinct. The only obvious, deeply buried weak layer was the basal facets. The mid-pack slab is pencil hard; like other places, it would be very hard to affect the weak basal layers.

I also went to investigate how much cold snow was sitting on top of crusts on slopes that will see warming over the next few days. I found 6 to 8 inches of cold, dry snow on north through east-facing slopes near and above treeline.

Pennsylvania Creek / Red Mountain area

I observed small Loose Wet avalanches out of steep and rocky terrain on east through south-facing above treeline slopes of Mt Helen and Peaks 1,2,3. All avalanches were small and harmless. They most likely occurred on Sunday, April 6 or Monday, April 7.

For dry snow problems, I didn't test the basal weak layers due to the thickness and hardness of the mid-pack slab. In the upper snowpack, on a northeast-facing near treeline slope, I found a thin layer of faceted crystals on a melt-freeze crust 8 inches from the surface. I was able to get a crack to propagate in this layer on 18 taps in an Extended Column Test. This is similar to other areas where we see a thin slab and propagating results, but people aren't triggering avalanches on this layer. This setup of faceted snow on a crust beneath 8 inches of currently dry snow, will be susceptible to wet avalanche should this dry snow warm quickly.

For wet snow problems- The recent snow on southerly-facing slopes near and above treeline had mostly melted or consolidated with the existing snowpack. There was some recent, patchy drifted snow that was getting moist. East-facing above treeline slopes stayed cold with the wind and intermittent cloud cover. East-facing near treeline slopes had 8 inches of dry snow that was getting moist but I did not observe any rollerballs or other signs of wet instability on steep slopes. The previously dry snow on northeast-facing below treeline slopes was getting moist. I wasn't around any steep below-treeline northeast-facing slopes to get a good feel for if this was an issue.

Windy and warm with broken to scattered clouds and plenty of sun.