Warm Springs

This was an off duty tour to look at and ski through the snow in an area with minimal observations.

Cracking and collapsing were specific to wind loaded terrain. I did not experience cracking or collapsing in sheltered terrain.

6500' NE aspect
HS=120cm
Leap day dust layer down 26-28cm
2/14 down 40cm
2/1 down 70 cm, several cm thick MFcr complex
1/6 down 100 cm
I received ECTNs with easy and moderate force on rough storm layers that did not look like they were problematic. I did not impact either 2/14 or 2/1 with standard loading steps (new snow dampening the force applied).

6700' SE aspect
2/1 down 65cm
2/14 down 40 cm

The snowpack is relatively thin, and generally weak here. In sheltered terrain, the new snow was unconsolidated and not behaving like a slab. As I climbed into subtly winded terrain, I experienced many smaller collapses. The persistent slab problem here is complex, with several sporadic weak layers in the upper snowpack and the well-developed, widespread 1/6 basal weak layer.