Hurley Pass - Locomotive Peak

Map for Mountain Information Network report: Hurley Pass - Locomotive Peak

Snow conditions

We rode:
  • Alpine slopes
  • Convex slopes
  • Steep slopes

Information

Avalanche conditions
  • Slab avalanches today or yesterday.

Comments

Great day in the mountains with unlimited visibility and excellent traction. In north facing alpine features the snowpack has remained relatively cold above 1800 m. The temperature stayed just below 0 C in the north facing bowl we explored today. The recent storm snow has been formed into thin wind slabs 10 to 15 cm deep that are not particularly well bonded to an old melt freeze crust. See this Shovel Tilt Test result here https://youtu.be/DTBHQeNPlso We saw a few small natural avalanches to size 1 that looked less than 24 hours old. While they were not sensitive to rider triggering in the terrain we were in, they may be just a bit more sensitive immediately lee of ridgecrest. (photo 2) South and West facing features are predictably producing loose wet avalanches to size 1.5 (photo 3) and it certainly feels like spring! The Hurley Pass road is in pretty good shape from the main parking lot, but the dirt patches feel like they're getting bigger by the hour, when we got back to the truck this afternoon it was +18 C.