Teton Conditions, 07/08...no noise.

Was up Mail Cabin, came across the party with the buried [but not injured] skier, right when they had all gotten to the bottom and were scrambling hasty search plans. Saw one other slide path, but other skiers i talked to said it was human/deliberately cut on Friday, high up in a cliffy starting zone.

It was too deep up there for my comfort [solo]. Anything steep enough to ski was steep enough to make me nervous. Came back down the same way i went up. Awesome tour tho, and saw a number of skiers on Windy...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by homemadesalsa

I procrastinated putting in this post yesterday- too much beer and football after a long windy tour day, waaah.

Anyway on the pass it was blowing hard from the EAST, scouring and depositing in some unusual spots. Some shooting cracks in NW loading zones, and one whumph that I tried to trigger....

Unusual conditions bring unusual avalanching.

salsa- off to Targhee where there is 15" of new once again.

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We saw the evidence of the EASt winds this morning on the Pass. My group of 3 got numerous pockets of HARD slab to move on S - SW - W - NW aspects above 8000 feet. All were propagated intentionally and in safe zones where they couldn't run more than 15-20 yards. EVERYTHING ran on either the sun or wind crusts Salsa mentioned.

Sorry, didn't record any data this time around. We did see moderate, Q3 conditions in general on isolated columns but the pack seemed to be more reactive, (on most aspects), than our tests showed. Lots of surface hoar developing between 7800 - 9500 ft. Good skiing was had though! We skied S - SW slopes and stuck mostly to terrain in the 25* - 30* range.

Anybody got the skinny on the slide on Taylor yesterday (mentioned in the avy forecast but no details)? I always wonder if the BT boys have the info and just don't feel like sharing, or if they really don't know what's up.

They'll share the info if they get it. Usually a vague report in the avy forecast means a vague message left about the slide from the reporting party.

Actually I sent an email asking about the Taylor slide to the BT forecasters, and got this in reply:

"Quick question- got any more details on yesterday's slide
on Taylor? What aspect and elevation? Weak layer? Was it
the old snow surface from Jan 26 or so, that got the big
wind load from the Monday Jan 28 wind storm? Skier
triggered?"

From Bob Comey: "Just a phone message. Skier triggered in the Poop Chute on
Taylor. People tell me the Poop Chute is the main slide
path that drains down towards Coal Creek. Soft slab that
ran 1,800 to 2,000 feet to the top of the runout zone. Crown
was 3 to 3.5 feet. No other info. Got to think it ran in
the new snow on a density break. "