Observation: Portage / Placer

Location: Placer/Skookum

Date:

December 26, 2023 7:06pm

Observer:

Schauer/ Davis Forecaster

Route & General Observations

We rode the Placer area today, spending most of the day working hard to get above the rain crust from the Christmas storm. We found a stout (3″ thick) crust up to around 2000′ elevation, and saw evidence of a very widespread storm avalanche cycle from over the weekend. This included multiple avalanches that were D3-3.5, but as far as we could tell they were all storm slab avalanches.

We didn’t dig any pits today, but I stuck a probe in the snow at about 2700′ elevation and felt the Thanksgiving crust buried over 3 meters (10 feet) deep. As far as we could tell none of the avalanche activity we saw failed on that layer.

Photos & Video

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This stout crust went up to around 2000'. This photo was taken at 800'. 12.26.2023

Impressive debris piles in the gulley that is commonly used to access the Squirrel Flats uptrack. 12.26.2023

Runnels and chunky wet storm slab debris were the common theme for most of the day. 12.26.2023

One of the few crowns still visible, this one from an avalanche that was on the smaller size of what we saw today. 12.26.2023

Debris on the west side of Placer Valley. 12.26.2023

Location

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