Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
Photo 1: Looking into Cardiff.
Photo 2: I promise it's not pee.
Photo 3: Brooke can shred.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>We continue to find two persistent weak layers in the snowpack. The first sits near the ground on slopes facing west through north through east at the mid and upper elevations. The second is a shallower weak layer 3–8 inches below the surface, sitting just beneath a crust.</p> <p>We found this structure to be reactive on an east-facing slope at 8,500 feet, where our pit produced an ECTP20, indicating the slab can still propagate when triggered (see video).</p> <p>While we didn’t observe any active wind drifting, it’s likely there are still wind-affected slopes out there. The most suspect terrain right now is steep, upper-elevation, rocky slopes that have been wind-loaded. In these areas, it would be possible to trigger an avalanche that fails on our persistent weak layer (PWL).</p>
We finally hit cold snow starting around 8,500 feet. Below this elevation, the snowpack is completely saturated and isothermal, and avalanche danger is LOW. Above 8,500 feet, the snow transitions to dense powder coupled with graupel. There was roughly 5 inches of new snow sitting on the old snow surface. Riding and turning conditions were excellent in this upper-elevation terrain.