Quick report
- Aspect
- East
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2957 m
Since Dec 29, only 1.2 inches of water has been added to the snowpack (which isn't much). The snowpack remains weak and shallow.
The most shocking thing is that collapsing and cracking continues. We many small slopes collaps and crack. When more snow comes, conditions will be very dangerous. The main reason is that you'll be able to trigger slopes just by being underneath them. What is also scary is that many slopes we typically think are safe like ones facing southeast or west, have a very weak snowpack and will also produce avalanches.
Photos below of a few examples of the widespread collapsing and cracking we observed today.
Surface hoar covered the snow surface on most slopes. We'll have to wait and see if winds destroy it before it gets buried.
Before we left the trailhead, we took 5 minutes to practice with our beacons in the beacon training park that Ted just installed. It doesn't get any easier than this. There are 4 buried beacons but you can turn them on or off with the control panel. Super easy and fun.