Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3170 m
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Early season snow with a new slab on top. We experienced cracking and collapsing on our skin trail. No signs of wind loading where we traveled today. There were signs of wind loading visible above treeline, even early cornices forming. The poor snowpack structure was common almost everywhere.</p>
CT12 RP. Broke at the top of the melt freeze basal crust that was lightly faceted. Very resistant planar.
ECTX/ECTN 14, barely broke at the top of the dense storm snow/at the visible rime crust before the 6'' of med density storm snow. The rime crust did not pose a specific instability that we witnessed, at other elevations and aspects where it is present, maybe it could be a weak layer for recent wind slabs. Worth keeping in mind in the coming days as people explore.
HS on our S SW pit was 48cm.
Photo shows recent rime, settling of the storm snow, and the sparkly sunshine.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Ample faceted and crusted snow at the base of the snowpack. Weak faceted snow was absent on S and SW aspects more than 200' vert up from the base of the gully - there was still old snow that was angulated and showed signed of facet growth, but could be characterized more as a crust than a PWL for now.</p>
New snow skied very well. The firm high density slab is very supportable with a few inches of soft/surf on top. Solar aspects were not wet as we were existing, but the southern half of the compass could see melt freeze crusts within a day or two at our latitude.