Quick report
Toured into the backcountry adjacent to Schweitzer ski area today for a pulse check on our Persistent Weak layers ahead of this week's incoming wallop. We were able to verify that the weak layers are still easy to find on many slopes 2 to 3 feet down, and they are still producing concerning results in our snowpack tests. Additionally, we discovered that all aspects have been coated in a very hard rain crust thanks to the recent rain and warm weather last weekend. The rain crust was evident up to my high point of 6600 feet today, and I'd suspect that it reaches up to at least 7000 feet across other parts of the Selkirks. This new very hard crust will likely be a poor bonding surface for the snow coming in later this week. More details about our snowpack tests results and snowpack structure can be found below in the snowpack tab.
none observedWeather
- Air Temp
- -6
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- trace
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Scattered clouds today with partly sunny conditions and short-lived convective flurries. New snowfall at Schweitzer only amount to trace accumulations of large grauple. Air temperature was below freezing and decreasing throughout the day. Winds were light to moderate out of the southwest.
Snowpack
Today we dug two pits on opposing aspects at middle elevations. We targeted a west facing slope and an east facing slope. Details below.
East Aspect, 6200 feet:
- Surface contions- A thin, but very hard (ice hard) rain crust caps the surface.
- Both Feb14 and Jan28 weak layers were located about 2 feet below the surface. Both layers harbor large intact surface hoar.
- Snowpack test results were non-propagating and did not impact the two afformentioned weak layers from Feb14 or Jan28.
- The bottom half of the snowpack is strong, composed mostly of rounds and old ice layers.
West Aspect, 6400 feet:
- Surface contions- A thin, but very hard (ice hard) rain crust caps the surface.
- Feb14 interface was located, but did not harbor weak snow grains.
- Jan28 interface was located about 2 feet below the surface with a well preserved layer of large buried surface hoar sitting atop a hard crust.
- Snowpack tests provided unstable results on the Jan28 weak layer down 65cm. ECTP22, ECTP23, and PST (52/165) END.
- The mid-pack is strong, composed mostly of rounds and old ice layers.
- The bottom third of the snowpack is weak and soft with mostly large rounding facets and some old decomposing ice layers.
Avalanche
none observed