Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
Slabbiness of the storm slab increased throughout the day lending to longer running cracks in front of our skis by the afternoon. We also observed several loud, rumbling collapses in sheltered openings with surface hoar below (upright and intact) the new snow.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Periods of light to moderate snowfall, and southwest winds gusting into the 20s to 30s mph.
Snowpack
The 6 to 8 inches of new snow is already getting reactive above weak faceted snow and surface hoar. In our snowpit around 5,000 feet, we observed snowpack tests fail with isolation and easy force at the new/ old interface. As we climbed higher in elevation, the storm snow got slabbier and subtle cracks along the skin track transitioned into long-running cracks across terrain features. We also experienced several loud, rumbling collapses in sheltered openings where surface hoar is upright and intact below the storm snow. At this point, the new snow was bonding well to southerly-facing slopes where a 1 to 2 cm thick sun crust is below. The crust however is breakable and F to 4F facets lurk below. With more load, we anticiapte this faceted crust to stress this crust and it those slopes could become more concerning - even on the windward side of terrain. Leeward-facing terrain look phat and vulnerable and snow depths were easily pushing close to 16 inches on those slopes. New cornice growth easily caved off while approaching and triggered some small soft slabs that surprisingly didn't travel far.