Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2804 m
- Slope Angle
- 40°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>snow is adjusting to its new skin, but exposed wind loaded slopes still sensitive. Conditions not to be trusted as no strong bridging is occurring and as pack slowly builds, it seems to rot away due to infrequency and small size of latest storms. </p>
snowpack at Miller Flat
visibility limited us
riming the headline
snowpit and discussion
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>we called it pockets of considerable, wind loading fall down slope from ridgelines, and we kept away due to poor visibility, other wise hazard is moderate</p> <p>not to be trusted</p>
storm totals since early Friday were 15 cm settled at Miller Flat snowstake, total still a skimpy 65 cm. Riming is the headline with 1/4" crust already formed, and fog rime still underway above about 8000'. Noticed cloud deck was widespread including Nebo, Mt Loafer, etc, extreme southern Wasatch.
New snow seemed fairly bonded to old snow with right side up conditions in the upper layers, but in mid elevation sheltered N facing shadows, much weaker snow still exists. If you have the bravado to point them down hill and keep speed up, you would float on the old snow layer, but on steeper breakovers or if you initiated too hard in turn, punching down would occur.
Cornices and wind loaded slopes were cracking but not really taking off, settlement has continued in warmer temps. Interestingly, the only collapsing we experienced was in sheltered low angle mid elevation, and we did experience one significant whomph but did not crack surface snow around us.
Coverage is slowly increasing allowing access to more terrain, but downfall, rocks and other hazards are still widespread, Fetches are blown to the rock with sagebrush still exposed.