Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
Started touring late this morning up Butler Fork. Throughout the day I poked around most areas in the drainage. I was happily surprised to not experience any cracking or collapsing in what I expected to be a snowpack in the balance. The new snow came in right side up and was not sluffing. It is obvious that north facing slopes have been getting wind loaded along ridgelines at mid and high elevations. Frankly things are looking very good and coverage has improved exponentially.
With all this new snow, lower and south facing elevations are riding very well. There is really no reason to be riding terrain that falls in the "considerable" zone of the rose. Most accidents happen during "considerable" danger!
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>PWL is under a lot of stress with around 4" of SWE being added in the last week. I was surprised when the clouds lifted this morning to not see a natural avalanche cycle. In fact, I couldn't spot a single slide in what I could see of the BCC forks and Gobbler's area. </p> <p>There has been a lot of wind transport over this last storm cycle. Wind slabs and cornices are quite prevalent on ridgelines.</p>