Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
Toured the standard route to the treeline benches before Eddies Headwall. Skied two laps, on the second just skied the 500' above the alders where the best skiing was. Overall, we found 4" of new snow that has bonded poorly to the old snow. Above treeline, the new snow has drifted into 8-10" thick slabs what were reactive. We experienced snowpack collapsing and cracking within the new snow. We found the best skiing to be where the old snow surfaces are consistent and supportable, here, that was 1500' and below. Noticed cracking within the new snow shooting out a few feet past skis around 1500' within the new snow. New snow felt poorly bonded to the old surface crust. Above treeline, the new snow had been blown into a 8-10" slab in some spots. In those locations where the slab was present we experienced consistent collapsing within the new snow. Above treeline test slopes in wind loaded areas showed a poorly bonded, reactive fresh slab on top of crust (2380'). Recent looking glide debris in the valley off Eddies Spines.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 19F
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- 0'
- Recent Snowfall
- 4"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Generally calm weather. High teens low twenties throughout the day. Dense low cloud layer overtook the pass by noon. Light precipitation ended around 1pm, overcast. No wind.
Snowpack
3-4" of fresh snow at the road! At and below 1500' we found ~4" of new snow on top of supportable melt-freeze crust which provided good skiing. Above 1500' the crust became breakable and more variable providing more challenging skiing. Above treeline, the new snow had blown into leeward features ( generally W-SW-S) and formed a 8-10" thick slab on top of the variable old snow surface. The new slab, and generally the new snow, appeared to have bonded poorly to the old snow where we were.