Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3292 m
- Slope Angle
- 28°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>We observed a small, natural avalanche caused by wind drifted snow on a NE aspect around 11,000 ft. The slide looked to be at least a couple days old. </p> <p>The existing snowpack is weak. High pressure, and cold clear nights are only causing the pack to get weaker. </p>
Digging in the snow today revealed a weak snow pack lacking much body to it. The most recent snow is already turning to facets and is not a cohesive slab. An extended column test resulted in an ECTX, no failure, no propagation. The snow pack remains unsupportive and boot pen is almost to the ground at 60cm. The facets at the ground were easily falling out of the pit wall today.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>We did not observe any blowing and drifting snow today. We did observe this small natural avalanche in the Horse Creek Chutes. The avalanche probably occurred on Sunday or Monday during the strong Northerly wind event. This avalanche looks to be quite shallow (maybe only a few inches deep). A slide like this might knock a skier off their feet, but is certainly not deep enough to bury a person. See the avalanche obs for more details. At this point, it seems unlikely for a skier to trigger an avalanche like this in wind-drifted snow. If triggered, these avalanches would be small and limited to isolated terrain in the upper elevations. This terrain is very hard to access right now with the thin cover.</p> <p> </p> <p>Today we broke trail in virgin snow for most of the day. We crossed a variety of aspects, and made it up to about 11,100 ft in Horse Creek. We did not experience any cracking or collapsing. We did not see any recent avalanches breaking into old snow. The 8" of snow that fell on Saturday (with 1" of water) is not behaving like a slab. It is not cohesive. This layer is already starting to break down and become faceted. We performed an extended column test and got ECTX. While the overall snow pack remains weak, we still do not have a true slab in place to cause avalanches. I have some concern for slopes near tree line and above that harbor a weak snow pack that have also been loaded up by the wind. On these slopes it is possible for the weight of a skier or rider to trigger an avalanche breaking deeper into old snow. </p>
The 8" of snow that fell on 12/23 is not supportive and is already starting to turn to facets. While breaking trail, our skis would penetrate deep into the most recent layer of snow. We managed to make some turns on a grassy slope in pinto glades. We probed 45-50 cm of snow on this sunny SW facing slope, but most of the slope was very thin and looked more like the photo below
We thought we might me able to make some turns on the Northerly facing slopes in upper Horse Creek. We walked to the bottom of these slopes and they were showing too many rocks so we bailed on skiing. Unfortunately, it is still very thin cover out there.