Manto nevoso

PCT Notch

Joe SoccioBridgeport Avalanche Center
Vedi sulla mappa
Foto dell’osservazione 1Foto dell’osservazione 2Foto dell’osservazione 3Foto dell’osservazione 4Foto dell’osservazione 5Foto dell’osservazione 6Foto dell’osservazione 7Foto dell’osservazione 8Foto dell’osservazione 9Foto dell’osservazione 10Foto dell’osservazione 11

Quick report

 I had 3 objectives for the day

  1. Keep our eyes peeled for signs of loose wet instability due to the recent rain.
  2. Dig a pit and perform stability tests on a N face Above Tree line.
  3. Help one of our long-time volunteers prep for his Pro 1 course.

We toured up to the PCT Notch just east of Leavitt Peak to quickly access a North aspect at 10,800 ft.  It was a beautiful day for a walk in the high country today and the PCT notch provides quick access to the upper elevations without a huge commitment day. I chose this area so we could dig a pit and perform stability tests. I was curious about the distribution of the DEC 12 NSF  layer  we saw propagated yesterday in the crater crest area. 

On the way up to the Notch we saw a crown on Leavitt peak ( unknown date of avalanche) and clouds began to roll in from the west. The descent was much better than we expected, wind buff provided a few nice turns.

During the day I looked for  Loose wet instability and only saw a few instances of roller balls on E and S aspects around 8,000 ft.

Weather

Air Temp
36
Cloud Cover
broken
Wind Loading
previous
Recent Snowfall
trace
Snow Avail For Transport
small smounts

Above freezing temperatures were present all day, and light SW winds kept the snow surface cold on our tour (10k+ ft and above). The morning started out with clear skies, and gradually transitioned to broken skies as clouds moved in from the west.

Snowpack

We saw a few instances of loose wet roller balls from the rain-on-snow event on Saturday. The  rain line was around 8,500 feet in the 108 area.  Our objective was to dig a pit and see how the DEC 12th NSF  layer would react to stability tests. We completed the full gambit of tests because one of our long-time volunteers joined to prep for his Pro 1. We had no results that showed instability. CTN, ECT X, and PST 100/100 x.