Quick report
Skied the SW aspect under Shastarama point today. Surface was mostly a thin wind skin, that was relatively soft and quite grabby. There were also sections of exposed crust, and some sastrugi-like formations as well. This wind skin was easy to isolate in hand shears, but no cracking was noted, except at switchbacks, and these cracks did not propagate very far at all. Ski cuts were entirely unproductive, and didn’t even break off small plates of this wind skin. The sun was quite strong, but moderate to strong N/NW winds kept the surface from warming at all, and were moving quite a bit of snow. On this slope, they appeared to be doing more scouring, but there was certainly previous loading. The crust that has been noted elsewhere was consistently found about a foot down, and was completely supportable. I did note a previous small avalanche off the east side of lower green butte, with an old crown, but debris that had clearly melted and then refrozen. Some cracking occurred at skintrack switchbacks, but these did not propagate very far. Hand shears consistently showed a thin, 4f to 1f- wind skin 2-4” deep, that was bonded pretty well to softer snow below. The crust was about 12 in. down, and was fully supportable.
Weather
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts