Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading
- Elevation
- 2316 m
- Slope Angle
- 22°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Due to time limitations, we only toured to about 7600' elevation. However, despite the high danger rating, we saw no signs of recent avalanches (though visibility limitations due to precipitation prevented us from viewing the summits). We did a number of pole tests and hand shears as well as kicked on small rollovers with no evidence of cracking or collapsing. The most significant red flag was the considerable amount of recent snow coupled with increasing wind loading as we ascended. We saw a few tiny wind pockets form by the time we descended.</p>
I dug quick pits in two locations, both northeast aspects, the first at 7000' and the second at 7600'. Both pits revealed a similar snowpack of 120 - 125cm depth. A 15 - 20cm layer of basal facets was quite moist and rounding with easily work-hardened snow. This was capped with a thin and brittle crust. The top meter of the snowpack was "right side up" and ranged in hardness from 1F to F as depth decreased. An extended column test at the 7600' pit elicited ECTN22 with fracture about 30cm deep on an small change in density from F to 4F snow.
My impression was that it would be challenging to trigger a slide on the crust or facets, but such a slide would be catastrophic. We were also concerned with the possibility of triggering the storm snow and a slide stepping down through the thin crust. I would be interested to see the wind effect as the day progresses, particularly at higher elevations. We played it safe and descended slopes under 30 degrees without incident.
We saw a couple recent small natural avalanches on upper slopes when driving through Ogden Canyon.
Snowpack
Falling snow had clearly decreased in density this morning (0600) and remained low density compared to the dense, wet flakes of last night (12/22/2015). Snow was S2 at the trailhead at 0600 and had diminished to S-1 by 0900.