Quick report
It was a beautiful day in the mountains. On a wind-loaded slope at 5200', I found 10" thick soft slabs that were non-reactive, not very cohesive, and fairly well-bonded to the frozen crust below. Overall, stability in the mid-elevation band was good. I think it's a good bet that the higher elevations have thicker wind drifts which could have been more reactive.
The sun had minimal effect today as cloud cover came and went throughout the day. As the storm only produced about 4" of new snow up to the elevation I traveled, ski conditions were dust on crust and early-season hazards persist.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 26
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Sky oscillated between overcast, broken, and scattered. Visibility improved throughout the day. Light winds.
Snowpack
On a wind-loaded slope at 5200' with an HS of 80", I found the 4" of storm snow drifted into 10" soft wind slabs. The slabs were 4F and not particularly cohesive. Cracking in the slab was quite minimal and only extended between and along my skis. Hand shears were resistant and test slopes were non-reactive. The melt-freeze crust was stout and quite slick.
Below the P+ melt-freeze crust, the old melt forms were wet until the 12/6 interface, and moist below that. I was surprised at how thick and frozen the melt-freeze crust was given the weather prior to and at the onset of the storm.