Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Poor Snowpack Structure
Toured up around Guardsman’s Pass / Scott’s Backdoor / PInecone Ridge today. Started around 12pm and skies were generally cloudy and winds were light but gusting increased at the ridgelines to about 20mph, enough to transport snow by the end of the tour around 4pm. Snow was variable and sub-optimal fun. Though consolidated, it still had an upside down feel to it and the damp surface just sapped downhill momentum. Seemed like there might have been some greenhousing. Exiting on the road was an exercise in patience as the snow was grabby and tacky.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Dug a couple of pits today and both continued to reinforce the instability present with the persistent weak layer. The first pit was a hand pit at 9100’ on a NW facing road cut about 30cm deep. All layers were fist hardness with about a 3-4 cm layer of somewhat damp facets. I isolated a block and scooped out about 30cm of the faceted layer at which point the entire block released. Did an ECT and PST at the second pit: NW facing at about 9400’. Results were ECTX as the column was fist hardness throughout and the shovel taps just compressed it. Faceted layer was also about 3-4 cm and not damp. PST resulted in PST 30/100 SF which is not surprising given the softness of the slab.</p>