Quick report
- Collapsing
- specific
Photos of early-season coverage in the Sawtooth and White Cloud Mountains. All photos taken on a very scrappy ski tour on November 7th, 2024. Snowpack was thin and variable. Many slopes lacked enough snow coverage for skiing and “good” weak layer development. In places with more snow, significant faceting was occurring throughout the snowpack. I experienced a few small collapses in recent, ridge-adjacent wind drifts, and one larger collapse that audibly rumbled out from my location for about one second. This larger collapse started roughly 200 feet down from a ridgeline and involved a larger drift of snow resting on weak snow underneath. I could not find/see cracking associated with these collapses. Bottom line: pretty typical early-season snowpack thus far. Thin, weak, irregular. Loads of sharks out there if you're looking for a free base grind.