Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
Got out early this morning for a lap in Silver Fork. Ascended the aspens below the meadow chutes to peak 9,699 then rode skiers right of Brad's Line in the lower angle trees then back into the gully before the terrain steepens in the bottom 1/3 of the run. No wind this morning but clear evidence of East winds last night from the snow surface and at the ridge. Days Fork was looking thin and the slopes which didn't run last week look ready to go.
Dug a pit right around 9,600 ft, NE aspect, depth was about 60-80 cms. My stability test resulted in ECTN 21 but I was a little confused by the way the side of my column collapsed on itself, I did not observe propogation. Temp near 20 cms was -4 C and at 65 cms was -10 C. Facets were observed around 2 mm in size and the following lemons:
1) Weak layer within 1 meter of surface
2) Hardness delta of 1 step between WL and adjacent layer
3) Persistent grain type
I would guess there is a grain size delta of 1 mm between WL and adjacent layer but I forgot to measure the grain size of the adjacent layer. We need snow.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>PWL still sitting at the bottom of the snowpack as many have noted in their observations. The slab above seems to be gaining strength but i'm extremely suspect. </p> <p>Lots of evidence of wind in the afternoon/overnight last night. I didn't travel much above 9,500 ft but it was much more noticeable at the ridge and i'm sure higher elevations got hammered.</p>