Pro Field Report

Basic Information

Observation Date:

January 1, 2022

Submitted:

January 1, 2022

Observer:

SAC - Chris Lundy

Zone or Region:

Sawtooth and Western Smoky Mtns

Location:

Glassing Stanley to Smiley Creek

Recent Avalanches?

Yes

Cracking?

None Experienced

Collapsing?

None Experienced

Roadside obs...

Had good visibility of the Sawtooths from Crooked Creek south to Alturas. Had some view of the mouths of the canyons near Smiley Creek. Had a good view of the west side of Horton Peak. Overall, not much recent avalanche activity. Most of the slides listed in this observation happened earlier in the Christmas storm cycle. Based on comparing them to the Marshall Slide crown (observed on 12/24), many of the slides observed today appeared to be of the same vintage and were a mix of storm slabs and persistent slabs breaking on 12/11.

Primary avalanches that occurred within the past 24-48 hours include some storm/wind/spindrift slabs in Meadow Bowl and what appears to be a large cornice failure on Parks Peak.

Obvious wind effect (ripples, dunes) in a number of the high alpine basins - but not strafed by any means. Still a good amount of snow in the trees at middle elevations.

I included a few photos without avalanches for visible reference for snow coverage and wind effect.

In the afternoon on January 1, N-NW winds were transporting snow in the high alpine terrain of the northern Sawtooths.

Natural avalanche that released in "Marshall Slide" near the Williams Peak hut, first observed on 12/24. It released on weak October snow near the ground. The age of this crown was used as a reference for other slides observed during clear weather on 1/1.

Advanced Information

Cloud Cover:

Mostly Sunny

A few high, wispy clouds over the N Sawtooths and Banner area. Nearly clear from the mid Sawtooths south. It appeared that the N-NW wind picked up a bit in the afternoon - snow could be seen blowing/swirling off alpine terrain in the Williams Peak area. Hard to say how much loading was occurring due to these winds.

#	Date	Location	Size	Type	Bed Sfc	Trigger	Details
1	Dec 24, 2021 (+/- 3 days)	Eureka Gulch? NE 9800ft	D2.5			N-Natural	Report
1	Dec 24, 2021 (+/- 3 days)	Imogene Peak NE 9800ft	D2			N-Natural	Report
1	Dec 24, 2021 (+/- 3 days)	South of McDonald Peak NE 9200ft	D2		O-Old Snow	N-Natural	Report
1	Dec 24, 2021 (+/- 3 days)	Upper Goat Creek NE 9800ft	D2			N-Natural	Report
2	Dec 31, 2021 (+/- 1 day)	Meadow Bowl NE 9200ft	D1.5	SS-Soft Slab		N-Natural	Report
1	Dec 24, 2021 (+/- 3 days)	Upper Meadow Bowl NE 9800ft	D2			N-Natural	Report
1	Dec 31, 2021 (+/- 1 day)	Park Peak SE 10200ft	D2	C-Cornice		N-Natural	Report