Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>We encountered a 3-5" windslab on most aspects we traversed. It is a fairly cohesive crust sitting atop an unconsolidated graupel layer. We found collapsing and cracking on N and NE aspects near treeline. </p>
A few days of wind have brought some energy back into the snowpack. A 3-5" windslab is sitting on top of unconsolidated, rounded graupel. We weren't able to get the windslab to move, but it was easy to bunch trhough and broke apart in cookies on the outside of ski turns. We experienced widespread collapsing and cracking near treeline.
Winds were strong near and above treeline. We didn't observe any snow transport, as I suspect that most transportable snow has already blown away. Large bare patches are appearing on south and southeast slopes and some desert dust is visible in Laurel's south bowl. Old ski and skin tracks are visible and raised above the bed surface.
Snowpack
A few days of wind sure have done a number on the snow surface! While we found some soft snow in protected northfacing trees, we primarily skied different varieties of sastrugi.