Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Snow Surface (as of mid-afternoon): 1200' (parking lot) to 1500': 3-6cm of wet to very wet large melt forms, over 6cm of moist new snow sitting on a supportable crust. 1500' - 2000': 1-3cm of wet melt forms over moist recent snow. 2000' - 2200': Moist snow, with grains bonded so well together that wind transport from moderate gusts wasn't occurring. 2200' - 3000': Moist snow surface, with saltating snow from moderate gusts. Note surface conditions in the instability section. Ski penetration of 1-4". 3000' - 3400': Dry snow surface, ski penetration generally 2-4" (less on the wind blasted ridgeline) Snowpack: Hand pits were used to evaluate where the 2/14 buried surface hoar could found, and hand shear tests checked sensitivity of that layer. The layer could first be seen at 1500', where the BSH was found upright, but it was well bonded to layers above and below it. It could often be spotted visually from 1500-2500', with hand shear tests producing a variety of results ranging from easy to no result (instances where layers above and below would fail before the buried surface hoar would fail.) Sensitivity of hand shear tests were generally less above 2500', and the BSH wasn't always easy to spot in hand pits. In a shallow pit wall at 3200' (see photo below), the 2/14 interface was visually obvious but stability tests results weren't concerning at this location. The 2/14 BSH fragments were the secondary grain form at the failure interface (the vast majority of grains were small rounding facets). At ridgeline, light snow transport with gusts moving moderate amounts of snow. Neighboring peaks had plumes near ridges/peaks on and off throughout the day. 10' shooting cracks were easy to initiate in a fresh wind slab on a small, steep NW aspect test slope near 3300'. The slab was up to 8" thick at this location (see photo below), and slabs of this thickness could only be found in isolated spots along the ridge as of mid-afternoon. Below ridgeline, light snow transport from winds above 2000' was occurring throughout the day; enough to refill some portions of the skin track between laps. Winds were moving enough snow to texture the snow surface/make areas of 1-3" wind slabs on Manitoba's west face. Minor skier-initiated rollerballs/pinwheels below 2500'.
Weather
Overcast skies, with occasional breaks that would let the sun through. No rain! or snow during the day. WARM - well above freezing at the parking lot, and just slightly below that at our high point. WINDY - light south to east winds with moderate gusts above 2000', and moderate winds gusting strong along the ridgeline.