Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Biggest red flag today was wind slab. I experienced cracking and collapsing while traveling across wind slabs in upper elevation terrain. More on that below. </p>
First photo is wind scoured North facing terrain looking into Horse Creek. Second photo is the Upper Funnel completely wind loaded.
A small, wet loose avalanche on a west facing slope. It's been really warm up there the past couple days.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The NE wind event that started the night of 12/31 and continued to blow through 1/2 did quite a number on the upper elevation ridge lines. I found wind drifted snow across NW, W, SW, and S facing slopes. Slabs ranged from 3cm to 10cm thick. At and just below the ridge line, slabs were very stiff (pencil +) and would support the weight of a skier. The NE winds were strong enough to transport snow a good ways down slope. Mid slope, slabs were softer and more reactive to the weight of a skier. My planned descent was Showoff, a steep SW facing run. The start of Showoff is about 200 - 300 feet below the peak. The top third (and possibly more) of the run was completely wind loaded. I put two slope cuts in, and on the second cut had a good collapse with shooting cracks. At that point I bailed and headed for the trees between Showoff and the Funnel. While climbing up that route across a mix of dense powder and wind slabs I experienced two whumpfs. I had a similar experience yesterday on a West facing slope that had recent wind deposits. Even though these wind slabs were deposited a couple days ago they are still reacting to the weight of a skier and should be avoided for the time being. </p>
A mixed bag of surface conditions out there right now. Shady slopes still have nice powder. With the warm temperatures sunny slopes down low are turning to heavy slop. Lots of wind crust/wind slab in the high alpine.