Quick report
We traveled to the eastern edge of the advisory area for the first time this season to gather snowpack data.
- We confirmed that the early December Atmospheric River soaked this location, leaving a thick, firm crust in the mid-pack.
- Similar to other observations, the snowpack below 6000 feet is thin.
- The prevailing westerly winds have stripped exposed west-facing slopes of snow.
- Due to the lack of snowfall, the cornice line along the Elk Mountain bowl is quite small for this time of year. The cross-loaded cornice line in the Backstrap ski run is almost non-existent.
- We had great views of many large avalanche paths but noticed no avalanches or notable debris piles.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Below freezing
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 3500
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Overcast conditions until early afternoon when the clouds cleared, and it became primarily sunny. Moderate winds at ridgelines elevations but little to no blowing snow. We had good views of nearby prominent peaks and did not observe transport off their summits.
Snowpack
- A surface melt-freeze crust was found on steep sunny slopes at all elevations. This crust broke down at low and mid elevations this afternoon.
- Surfaces on other slopes consisted of loose, dry snow, which was beginning to facet.
- Wind-affected surfaces were widespread above 6000 feet on slopes facing the prevailing wind. However, wind slab development was minimal and not an issue.
Our snowpit was at 6950 feet on a northwest aspect. The snowpack depth was only 60 cm. We found an 11 cm thick Pencil hard crust from the early December rain event. We did not have propagation in large-column tests (ECTX). Compression tests failed in soft snow above the crust (CT 14, CT16).