Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking
Travel was in the Pleasant Creek Drainage at elevations ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 feet on primarily north facing slopes. Nice to have maybe one last little burst of winter. Not a huge amount of new snow but ski conditions were excellent and it was just enough to mostly keep one off the firm crust underlying all the new snow. Not much to add beyond what I covered above. Sluffing in the new snow on the crusts was a minor factor on Friday morning (not enough new snow to really be an issue other than making skinning challenging) but today the new snow seemed better bonded. I think the only potentially dangerous situation today would be to trigger a wind slab in radical terrain which did seem like a possibility.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Some wind drifts were surprisingly thick and sensitive. Probably not big enough to bury you but could definitely sweep you off your feet in more radical terrain.</p> <p>At the time of my exit the sun wasn't affecting the snow yet on north facing slopes (could have been more of an issue on east/south facing slopes.) With cold temperatures and winds I don't foresee this being a major problem this weekend but if winds die down I would expect to see minor wet loose activity in the afternoons.</p>
New snow from the last few days has settled to about 6 inches above 9,000 feet or so. Found quite a bit of wind effect both up high and in drainages. The east winds were really swirling around in the early morning hours.