Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>A large, natural avalanche was observed across the fork on Quick Silver. Overall a very poor snowpack on mid elevations due to the rain on Thursday.</p>
Quick hand pit at 9200' showing the weak layer under the rain crust.
A sure sign of spring (or just a heavy rain). Runnels were common in the mid elevation slopes.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Mid elevation web slaps were a concern and easily isolated in a hand pit. The entire snow pack was saturated in these areas.</p> <p>In the open areas where the snow surface refroze, there was a very weak layer under the frozen surface. The dense, new snow on top of this crust with the weak layer below was easy to initiate. Additional weight to this weak layer could be problematic.</p>
The snow ranged from wet and unsupportable down low to a supportable crust with new snow on top higher up. In the trees, the snow had not cooled enough for a supportable crust and a wet slab was able to be easily isolated with a hand pit. On the open above 8500' the snow surface had frozen and was supportable. There was a thin layer of graupel on top of the crust. The new snow was adhered very poorly to this crust and small, long running sluffs were common.