Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Cool temperatures and building cloud cover were keeping snow surfaces cool longer than anticipated. As of 1:30 pm, a significant loose snow shed had not yet started in the steep/rocky south facing terrain of Avalanche Canyon. There were a few small debris piles below cliffs on Wister but nothing notable. Still plenty of time left in the day for things to shed once I left though.
I noticed one recent soft slab in very steep terrain around the Ullr 2 area though it was difficult to determine the crown depth from where I was. I also triggered a small pocket of very soft slab in northeast facing terrain below a ridge at 9,000'. It was about 6" deep and ran a few hundred feet.
New wind slabs were only found within 100 vertical feet of the ridge at 10,000' and were not reactive. However, I did notice obvious wind loaded features while looking down into Avalanche Canyon.
Cracking was isolated to wind stiffened snow that was only found within 100 vertical feet of the ridge at 10k. More wind affected surfaces were obvious in exposed/higher elevation terrain.Weather
- Air Temp
- 15
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 6"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Mostly sunny before noon. Mid level cloud cover beginning to increase in the afternoon. Cold temps. Felt like winter at 10k. Dead calm until hitting the ridge at 10k. Moderate ridgetop winds out of the west.
Snowpack
4-6" of recent low density snow in the past 24 hours. Depth to 3/13 crust ranged from 70cm to over a meter on east through north aspects at 9,500’. Fist to four finger hard snow above the crust in most places I checked.