Surface Avalanches on Red Lake Peak

Submitted by Public on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 3:43pm
Location Name: 
Red Lake Peak
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Position: 
Public
Date and time of avalanche (best estimate if unknown): 
Sun, 03/07/2010 - 10:09am
Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Rapid warming
Obvious avalanche path
Avalanche Observations
Avalanche Type: 
Wet
Avalanche Type: 
Loose/Point-Release
Trigger type: 
Natural
Slope: 
35degrees
Elevation: 
9300ft.
Bed Surface: 
Old Snow
Weak Layer: 
Storm Snow
Terrain: 
Above Treeline
Number of similar avalanches: 
5
Number of partial burials: 
0
Number of full burials: 
0
Avalanche Photos: 
More detailed information about the avalanche: 

We ascended the northeast ridge from Hope Valley.  We first saw the steep wall that goes down to crater lake with skiers' tracks from the day before, no releases yet, at around 10 AM. Around 11AM,  when we were again in sight of the wall, we noticed a lot of natural small surface avalanches.  These were probably triggered by the heat, the poor cohesion between the old snow and the recent snow (see pictures).  The many cliff bands/rocks present on the wall may have helped retaining / increasing the heat on the wall as well.

We decided to stay clear from the avalanched wall. We descended to the right of the wall and left of the north east ridge (looking down from the top).  This part of the descent had been exposed to the sun earlier in the day and showed no trace of natural avalanches. We were two skiers+a dog. We went down ,one at the time, and paid  attention not to "cut the slope" by avoiding big traverses.  The snow was reasonable there.  We did not trigger any releases.

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Air temperature: 
Above Freezing
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Cloud Cover: 
Clear
Precipitation: 
None
Accumulation rate: 
None
More detailed information about the weather: 

Warm weather, around freezing warming up during the day, no wind