Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2957 m
- Slope Angle
- 25°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>2 feet of recent snow sitting on some of the worst depth hoar I have ever seen. I was punching through in many places and falling to the ground. The recent snow sitting on top is cohesive and slabby. Very, very poor structure.</p>
This is a picture of the advanced, persistent faceted snow that exhibits very poor (nonexistent, really) bonding to the recent (2 weeks worth) snowfall (which is effectively a relatively cohesive slab layer).
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>See above. New snow is cracking and sliding on the depth hoar in switchback corners and hand pits. The overlying slab has been sitting for a while, has lost some stored energy, and isn't obviously reactive, but the bonding to the faceted snow underneath is extremely poor and, as Tom has said on many occasions like this "I wouldn't give you a nickel for it." Saturday's storm produced 4-6 inches new, much of which was blown around by high winds, and this additional loading could easily put these slopes on a hair trigger. Personally, I did not feel comfortable at all on slopes over 30 degrees, even without signs of recent avalanches. In my estimation, large human triggered deep slab avalanches are a definitely possibility on 35 degree slopes in the Western Uintas.</p>