Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
The snow began earlier than expected, but we likely only saw 1-2 inches upon our exit at 1300. The wind was the x factor though, the moderate to periods of strong gusts and intense transport late morning through midday, which included a few snow devils. Windward aspects were being striped back completely to the warm up crust, likely from yesterday 3/18. Wind deposits of 1' or more thick on some lee ward slopes. Some previously crusty slopes cross loading through Heather Meadows. Small recently built wind features were reactive when tested, but larger and real wind slabs probably existed on steeper and more open mid elevation and more alpine terrain in the area. I did see a few people do a run down the blueberry cutes area early in the day without incident, but not many steeping out in steeper terrain today. Cracking in recent and new wind features. Wind slabs would fail easily into blocks between tracks.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 30
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- 2500
- Recent Snowfall
- 4
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
On the drive up we had moments of sunshine peaking through a high overcast, but the baker machine turned on early and light snow developed before our arrival at 900. Visibility briefly improved 1030-1130 with better looks into the surrounding terrain, but the sky quickly filled in with snow increasing upon our departure. Winds were strong at times, resulting in periods of intense transport. Given the combination it's was somewhat stormy with many leeward aspects loading up. Lots of nice snow devils today!.
Snowpack
On most aspects, there are several thin melt freeze crusts in the upper snowpack, likely from sun breaks over the past week in between snow events. On northerly aspects there are no crusts located above the March 4th crust. The March 4th crust was about 4-5 feet deep in the location I dug. The snowpack structure is right side up however the new inch or two of snow that fell may be a bit denser possibly forming a more reactive slab once more snow falls through the evening.
Avalanche
Visibility was hard to come by, but there was evidence of a recent debris from a cornice fall or natural wind slab avalanche in the blueberry area on table mountain. Also one natural wind slab avalanche suspected partially buried on Huntoon Point. Upon leaving, there was a loud rumbling noise coming back from near the blueberry area of table mountain, which may have been a cornice failure.