Public Observation #2022-667
Submitted:
March 6, 2022 8:23 AM
Observation Date:
March 5, 2022
Zone or Region:
Central Cascades
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Three Finger Jack
Did you observe any avalanches?
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Size:
D1: Relatively harmless to people
Elevation:
6800
Aspect:
S
Comments:
Approx 25' wide 2" crown. Details obscured by 2-4" of fresh snow.
Did you see shooting cracks?
Yes
Did you experience collapsing or whumpfing?
No
We toured out from Santiam SnowPark to the South Bowl. Above 6500' there were consistent pockets of cold snow over a granular carveable crust. We observed two previous natural slide events, one in the south bowl that appeared to be a small slab release, 25' wide 2-4" deep in the south bowl. Another slide on the west bowl that appeared to be a release from wind loading on the ridge. In some shaded areas above 6600' the snow was still bonding poorly to the frozen crust below. The skiing off the south bowl was great, snow was non-reactive to ski cuts and well bonded to the underlying crust. At lower elevations on the ski out the snow had warmed enough to be fun spring like skiing.
