Observations and Naturals in Lionhead

We rode up Denny Creek towards Watkins Creek and spent the day below the ridge where we saw two natural avalanches. These avalanches broke 12-18" deep on weak faceted snow above a stiff crust. The first avalanche presumably happened sometime near the end of the last storm cycle (12/11), as it had a few inches of snow on the debris. The second was more recent, in the last 24-36 hours. Both were at 8500' and were on NE and E-facing slopes. 

We dug two snow pits near these avalanches and saw propagation in both on a layer of weak sugary snow buried about a foot deep (ECTP13 & ECTP12). Across the area surface hoar was easy to find on the snow surface.