Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
Pretty old story with our tiresome snowpack. Today was the first time I've traveled to this part of Millcreek Canyon this season and was expecting to find similar conditions to what I had seen in Main Porter Fork on Thursday morning. In Main Porter, I was finding a relatively deep snowpack (over a meter) and I could not get any collapsing or propagating with CT or ECT tests. (Bruce was reporting similar results.) At roughly similar elevations in Yellowjacket today, I did lots of quick pits and was finding a shallower snowpack (60-75 cms or 2'-2.5') that was rapidly rotting with facets. The snowpack was mostly F hardness, although still supportable. Overall the snowpack on N and NW aspects looked thinner and weaker than what I have been seeing in upper LCC, mid-BCC, as well as other locations in Millcreek. Along NW facing starting zones, the snowpack was quite shallow and rocky with facet gardens throughout. Some old P-hard wind slabs were found along ridge lines, but were not sensitive to ski cuts. With several days of high pressure expected, things will only deteriorate. (Photo is of surface hoar found at 9600' ridgeline.)
Snowpack
Rapidly weakening snow surface with widespread near-surface facets as well as surface hoar. Surface hoar was noted up to 9600' ridgeline above Depth Hoar bowl and some crystals are 10 - 15 mm. Interestingly, you most often find surface hoar "bathtub rings" that either begin or end at certain elevations. Today I was finding it in drainage bottoms, largely absent roughly from 8300'-8800', and then very prominent above 8800' all the way up to the ridges. NO collapsing noted.