Deep snow in Hyalite

Avalanche Activity

We spotted 6-7 storm slabs that failed about 8-10 inches deep. There were 3 on the East face Blackmore, 1 on the north face, 1 on north facing flank, and 1 notable one in a steep below treeline cirque ENE facing (this one broke ~400 ft wide). A possible 7th was down the Fox creek drainage. It seemed a bit random where they happened and didn't. They likely occurred sometime late yesterday afternoon during snowfall and high winds. This instability should be mostly stabilized by tomorrow.

We didn't see any avalanches that broke deeper in the snowpack

Other signs of instability 

no collapsing or cracking

Skiing/riding quality 

5 star deep powder and hard trailbreaking, aka trenchtown

Snowpack

We had limited time and only dug one snowpit (attached profile image). We'd like to go back and poke around in some shallow rocky areas. Pit attached. General impression is that it is very deep, and mostly strong. The Shower Falls SNOTEL is at 124% of median swe.

Early December facets have gained a lot of strength, and stability is moving in the right direction. With so much new snow (and more coming Friday/Saturday), I worry about finding a trigger point in a thinner area and then causing an avalanche to break widely into deeper areas. After the Fri/Sat storm if no more snow or wind come for a little bit of time, stability should improve very quickly

Note

The photo of snow on the sign post really shows how snowfall has been steady, slow, and non-stop. My hunch is that initially snow piled up on top of the post. Then it began to sag (or creep) to one side but slowly enough to not break. With each storm a little more snow was added and the pile of snow crept more to the side. Cool.