Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3018 m
- Slope Angle
- 20°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>We observed one collapse at around 10,000' which was probably a thin spot. </p> <p>New snow was checked because there was a little more than expected but it was pretty low density so not much water weight.</p> <p>Poor snowpack structure was checked because weak facets are still present below a strengthening slab. Snow depths are increasing helping to insulate the facets but still too close for comfort.</p>
Snowpit tests are likely not all that useful now with about 1m of snow above facets.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>As noted above, depths are increasing but it seems like it would be possible to trigger an avalanche from a thin spot in the snow pack. Spatial variability seems like a problem now. The pit location had almost a meter of snow above the facets but there were still places where rocks were near the surface, or places where your pole would drop into weaker snow while going uphill. These thinner spots were of concern to me.</p> <p>In areas travelled there was some new snow and evidence of drifting along the ridges but it wasn't too bad due to limited water weight.</p>
Cold temps made for good skiing, with nice low density powder. It seemed like there was more new snow than maybe was forecast. There were a couple spots on lower elevation west facing slopes where we noticed a slight sun crust but this was not widespread where we skied.