Quick report
With the storm over-performing the forecast, I chose to ascend a below-treeline slope where new snow was just beginning to cover rocks and sage and fill in the gaps between them. The sage made travel arduous, but it was probably the only thing keeping storm slab avalanches at bay. I turned around just below 9,000 feet rather than tangle with deeper snow and the possibility of bigger avalanches up high. It was a slow, comical descent down my uptrack with skins still on.
- It was snowing hard. It snowed more than 2 inches in the hour and a half I was out.
- The new storm snow has density changes that made it feel slightly upside-down. I confirmed these in-storm interfaces with some snowpack tests performed in an area with smooth ground (no rock or sage in my pit).
Weather
- Air Temp
- 34
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 7200 ft.
- Recent Snowfall
- 46
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Heavy snowfall and light south winds made for poor visibility and arduous travel.
Snowpack
Fluctuations in temperature and snowfall intensity since the start of the storm (around 11 pm last night) have caused changes in the density of the storm snow, making it feel slightly upside-down. See photo.