Quick report
Targeted sunny aspects to document the storm interface going into this storm cycle. Southeast aspects near and above treeline could develop persistent slab issues once slabs develop over a variable network of collapsible crusts. I would expect similar issues on west-facing terrain, but didn't travel there.
Minor, shallow cracking in the new snow: both in the low density snow above the crust and in facets below collapsible crusts.Weather
- Air Temp
- Mild
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- N/A
- Recent Snowfall
- 13 to 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Very light snowfall and light winds this morning, with only an inch or so of accumulation while we were on tour. About 5" to 8" of storm snow so far.
Snowpack
On the southern quadrant, the 11/30 crust was stronger (supportive under skis and semi-supportive to boot pen) below treeline and on south aspects near treeline, and in some cases, discontinuous with recently melted-out ground cover. The crust became collapsible over facets on southeast aspects near treeline, depending on slope-specific characteristics and previous snow depth/drifting. In some cases there were crust/facet sandwiches. These thinner crusts appear to be problematic under future slabs. There was also an early-storm stellar dendrite layer poorly bonded above the crust that could pose storm slab issues this weekend. Previous northerly winds eroded the persistent slab structure away on the main east-facing start zone that we thought might be problematic today. Brief travel on a more protected east-facing terrain feature at 11.3k produced no signs of instability and stable results in a quick pit: the slab was faceted away for the time being.