Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2987 m
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Travel was from Guardsman to Guardsman Pass and up the shoulder a bit toward 10420. Profile as seen. Crust was roughly 4cm thick and only one of three ECTs provided full propagation at 30 taps. Doubtful that I could replicate this without the back cut of the column. No collapsing or cracking noted; no instability noted.
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Travel continued across the Scott Pass, up Puke Hill to Fat City. More wind loading there so profile is best approximation. Crust was 10cm thick and variable with some very thin weaknesses within the crust. Basal facets were "locked up" but a couple cm of facets above remained loose and damp. No tests due to the thickness of the crust. No collapsing or cracking noted; no instability noted.
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Pic 1 - older evidence of wind drifting - note the steep rib faces into the wind...
Pic 2 - smart skier chooses an aspect that does not harbor old PWL (this was not me)
Pic 3 - facets at base of Guardsman/10420 snow structure
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>THIS will be a tricky set-up for us now with the Christmas Rain Crust. Adding insult to injury is the expectation of facets developing possibly above and below the crusts. </p> <p>Transitioning to a low probability high consequence regime with little to no feedback provided by the snowpack...until an avalanche. Hogarth's <a href="https://www.tahoebackcountryradio.org/wickedrisk/">Wicked Environment</a> is apropos here. </p> <p>Dry loose will be most common...and will probably transition to wet loose as temps skyrocket in the next day or two. While these are not as severe as PWL, they can mean business in the wrong (ie-unforgiving terrain).</p>
Excellent skiing, particularly on low angle shady terrain. Some patches of surface hoar but this was not widespread. Other diamonds on the surface were just cold stellars, but I imagine the snow surface will start to weaken soon, possibly on solar aspects as well.