Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Collapsing
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>I experienced the first real collapse of the snowpack today. I was stopped and sitting on my machine and as Mark pulled up next to me the wind pillow I was parked on collapsed and rapidly settled. If this were on a steep slope, the drift would have released and caused a very small avalanche.</p>
The shallow snowpack continues to weaken as more time goes on without any new snow. The longer this goes on, the weaker the current snow on the ground becomes. Once this weak snow is buried, it is likely to act as a weak layer and cause avalanches.
The winds finally picked up a bit but not an extreme amount. As we were riding along the Skyline Drive at around 10,000', our tracks were getting filled in a bit from the wind. The wind had drifted enough snow to make a small cornice fall naturally in upper Staker.
There were a number of other fresh drifts that had formed over the faceted sugary snow near the ground. These might be sensitive if you were to walk or jump on them. As I stated above, these fresh drifts are in areas where it is unlikely people are traveling right now.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Wind has definitely drifted things a bit and formed some fresh drifts that might release if they are provoked. However, these are right along the ridges in very steep and rocky terrain. It is unlikely that anyone would be in areas like this right now with the shallow snowpack.</p>
The surface conditions remain excellent for riding although there just isn't quite enough to really get off of the Forest Service roads.