Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The new old interface is the major concern. It is not covered by up to a foot of storm snow as well as fresh wind loads in specific areas. As we add more storm snow to the surface and a slab begins to form we will likely see avalanches sliding on the polar aspects N/O interface. </p>
Photo 1 - 20cm of storm snow sitting on top of fist hard faceted grains
Photo 2 - Subjective information but relevant. Rider jumping on the unsupported snow pack yielding a failure within the weak faceted grains down 25m.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>While this may not be reactive yet due to the light nature of the storm snow this layer will be a concern moving forward. I see an issue with fresh wind loads forming over the old NSF and being more reactive than the storm snow at this point. However, this could change with the addition of some new snow. For now avoiding avalanche terrain where a PWL is present and there is a slab on top is best for longevity. </p>
Guardsman's pass TH HN at 0900 was about 15cm. Snow continued throughout the day from 1200-1520 at a steady S1 rate. The storm snow was not cohesive yet and hadn't really formed a slab where there was no wind. Some minor wind drifted snow was evident along the side of of the guardsman's road in open terrain. Otherwise storm snow was light and rode well at mid elevations in protected terrain. We did dig down in a snow pit to isolate the new layer of concern (new/old interface down 15-30cm) and had no notable results. As stated before the storm snow simply did not have any slab characteristics and was weak over slightly stronger.