Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
We're in a bad place right now, but was glad to see people out skiing with caution and few big terrain slopes are being center punched. It's a good time to dial in skills, maybe find your own mellow stash spots til we see any stability and see a perfect example of horrible snow structure, any new load isn't gonna end well on big terrain right now. Saw red flags while out on the hunt for soft and low angle terrain but was away from overhead hazard. pictures in order: wind scoured upper wolvy bowl, East facing pit result, layering below patsey Marley, small slabs breaking off small slope off skin track with ease
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The obvious is still there, started at Grizzly-Twin Lakes-Wolvy bowl- back down patsey </p> <p>Skies were clear this morning, wind started happening on the traverse around wolverine cirque and into the main bowl, noticeably scoured all over in upper ridgelines with some noted snow being transported. Light snow was starting around 3pm at Alta but not heavy. Dug two pits today, one below main patsey facing dead north, ECT didn't produce mainly from low slope angle or the fact that I found a bush compressed halfway down the block (oops) didn't make me feel good at all still, structure was so visibly poor, some thin crusts further down but not much, pure sugar below it, besides the recent new snow we're looking at mostly faceted snow. </p> <p>Along the tour today we had multiple cracks and audible collapses, along the S face of wolverine cirque it was easy to pop out a 2-3" slab next to the main skin track, skiing down wolverine bowl along the ridge would produce similar but smaller wind slabs, terrain wasn't steep enough for issues however. Dug the second pit on an E facing slope at about 10k, seemed like the East is also made up of mostly faceted snow, similar small crust down low but seemed similar but maybe more pronounced on the first N facing pit, result on test was ECTP 13 about halfway down the pack on old facets, sheared pretty clean below the slab that I probably wouldn't wanna bother right now. </p>