Quick report
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Not much for red flags because the snowpack has settled a lot since the last significant snow and the extremly warm temperatures at mid week. Now that temperatures have dropped and seized everything back up again, there's not much to talk about in the avalanche world for the first time in a long time.</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>My main concern is the storm forecast for Monday into Tuesday. We could get as much as a foot of new snow combined with some moderate wind so we will have to deal with all the usual problems with a snowstorm on a mostly supportable, stable base. Watch for slabs within the new snow created by wind, high precipitation intensity and/or variations in temperature during the storm. It's easy to test the snow as you travel along by jumping on test slopes and regularly dig down with your hand to see how well it's bonding. I don't think this amount of new snow will weigh enough to overload the buried layers of faceted snow that has been problematic last week and before. Expect sluffs and soft slabs in steep terrain and, as always, avoid steep slopes with recent wind deposits. </p>
Just a quick trip with some friends up to Scott's Peak area via the mighty USA Bowl just to get a quick look at our snow before the expected storm tomorrow.
Riding conditions were better than expected. It's amazing how a skiff of new snow can improve the wide variety of sun and wind crusts we had over the past few days. You can still find a few scraps of soft, dry, pre-existing snow that rides pretty good with the little bit of new snow.