Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Collapsing, Rapid Warming, Poor Snowpack Structure
Toured from white pine lot into mid-Red Pine. Reports of misting from yesterday were confirmed, with wet snow surface to 8900'. Rollerballs on roadcuts also. Overnight temperatures weren't adequate to freeze the surface into a crust, with temperatures at the trailhead of 38F at 8 am. Above 9000' the riding conditions improved significantly. We used an existing track up an East facing slope and observed no evidence of instability, but once on untrammeled terrain N/NW around 9300' we experienced multiple isolated collapses, particularly on slightly steeper rolls with a northwesterly aspect. Solar looked to be at play for the day with skies clearing and strong sun on southerly slopes with warm air temps. It remains possible to find sheltered snow and good skiing that is not in avalanche terrain.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>No need to perseverate. Basal facets are here to stay and remain reactive. This is "decreasing" only by virtue of the snowpack adjusting to the weight of the recent snow, but I expect even a small load to reactivate it. </p> <p>I have been intently avoiding wind-affected terrain because I like skiing good snow, so I haven't seen much of this myself. Still, reviewing the heatmap from today's forecast I note a connection between the wind-loading and where avalanches have been occuring on the basal facets. Knowing that the facets are more widespread than the heatmap would suggest (eg plenty of NW slopes are draped in facets), I think this further reinforcement of the idea that load remains king, and with any additional wind load from our typically western winds, the snowpack is shoing more energy and producing avalanches.</p>