Thick fog/clouds in the valleys made for challenging travel at time, but once we got above the clouds it was completely clear. Hardly a breath of wind. Temps were cooling through the day, and colder in the valleys.
Observation: Seward
Location: Lost Lake from Snug Harbor
We rode up to get the weather station back up and running. No pits today, but we saw a lot of recent natural activity from the lateststorm. Everything we saw looked like it had failed in new and wind loaded snow, with the exception of one avalanche that may have stepped down to another layer in the upper 2-3′ of the snowpack (See photos).
Weather
Snow surface
Variable, but mostly soft. Protected slopes had around 12-18" soft snow on top, but most slopes had seen some wind over the past few days. Windblown surfaces were a variety of soft wind slabs, stiffer wind skins, and sastrugi.
Snowpack
Recent avalanche activity in the D1.5-D2 range, with several natural cornice falls. All of the recent avalanche activity appeared to be confined to the latest round of snow.
Weather station was in dire need of a de-riming mission and a battery swap. She's back up and running for now! 01.30.2022
Recent wind slab activity just past V-max. 01.30.2022
Another recent wind slab avalanche. 01.30.2022
Recent avalanche triggered by a cornice fall on the south side of Mt. Ascension. 01.30.2022
Recent avalanche just south of Boulder Creek. This was the only avalanche we saw that may have stepped down to another layer, which looks like it was in the upper 2-3' of the snowpack. 01.30.2022