Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The snow is weak and thin but still supportive with ski pen around 10-20cm. Some spots below and near treeline felt a bit punchy, with the deepest part of the snowpack feeling a bit softer than the "midpack" Much of the snowpack consists of facets, however, we found soft settled powder and supportive skiing, so there is some bridging going on.</p>
Photo 1 yep... Strong northerly winds over the last few weeks have scoured this NE aspect quite a way down from ridgeline. Even semi-protected trees had stout wind-affected snow that skied like a velvety bowling ball. On more exposed E aspects, the wind has either stripped all snow or left a glassy smooth surface of unknown and variable depth.
Photo 2 East aspect of "La Sal" peak.
Photo 3 North aspect of Manns peak with evidence of NW and Westerly winds.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Mid elevations polar aspects probably the most suspect, with a bit of a mid pack with facets above and below. </p> <p>The alpine is just blasted, but there are probably some stubborn wind slabs that could be triggered with substantive loads in the thin spots.</p>
We traveled from 8,600-11,600' on mostly N, NE, and E aspects. Hs 10-11K was around 40-70cm. Snow line seemed to be around 7K. We found enjoyable, supportive skiing on sheltered polar aspects. Anything in the wind zone was utterly blasted. Some east aspects had a bit of a melt freeze crust.