Grand Daddy

Early morning observations around Now Peak provided evidences of a widespread natural cycle up to SZ 3 on all aspects in the last 48 hrs but most likely all from the the important wind event. Most larger avalanches had been triggered by large cornice falls, pulling deep slabs in features that had not previously avalanched and loose avalanches in couloir features. Grand Daddy had a very recent debris on the fan. Given the calm to light winds in the morning, the relatively weak solar input at this time of year and the -23C at 8 AM at the parking lot, we decided to investigate further. Testing of an unsupported feature in a sheltered location just above treeline revealed two main weaknesses, new storm snow interface down 25 cm under F very soft slab and the Dec 31st surface hoar down 50 cm under a 4F slab. Few SZ 1 avalanches were also noted on the immediate lee of crossloaded features on the fans. The Grand Daddy had seen a SZ 2 loose avalanches that had been triggered by a cornice fall into the guts about 3/4 of the way up. The cornice had left a huge bomb hole but had not pulled any slab. Above this, there was evidences (crowns) of a SZ 2 soft slab avalanche up to 50 cm thick happening earlier than the above mentioned cornice fall. The last 50 m of the couloir had reloaded, i.e. the crown couldn't be observed below the cornice, and we turned around where the new windslab was less than 5 cm thick. The ski down was quite variable with the best turns found where the snow had been saved from the avalanches. The fan skied very well just next to the debris but had a slight upside down feel to it where it had been more affected by the strong crosswinds. Of note, we saw a group of two starting to bootpack up the couloir at 3 PM when the winds had really picked up at ridge top. Inspection of the fan from the parkway revealed that they had make it back down safely.