A few days old, wet loose D1 avalanches on S aspect of Idaho peak. Observed from a distance one slab avalanche, D2, on WSW aspect that stepped down to the ground. It appeared to have occurred after the last snowfall (3/28).
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: North side Arkose Ridge - Mint Valley
Spent the last 3 days skiing/camping in the Mint Valley. Generally found good skiing with 10-15 cm near surface facets on E-NW aspects. Strong gusty/swirly winds on Tuesday and Wednesday produced thin breakable wind crusts at higher elevations.
Observer Comments
Weather
No new snow. Gusty, swirly wind with drifting, from NE switched toward SE on Wednesday evening.
Snow surface
Mostly near surface facets on shady aspects, with some thin breakable wind crusts. Mostly breakable melt-freeze crusts on sun exposed slopes.
Snowpack
No signs of instability found in snow pit or informal stability tests. In snow pit two CT-tests resulted in no failures. Even after leveraging the column out we couldn't produce a clean shear plane.
No failures during stability tests.