Quick report
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No red flags noted were we traveled today. Snowpack is quite stable. It just needs to snow!</p>
East winds have stripped the upper part of this NE facing bowl in upper Coal Fork at 10300ft. Normally these slopes have a relatively deep snow pack and large cornices due to the predominant west winds.
Evidence of the variable surface conditions. Crust: you name it- Rain/Rime, Temperature, Wind.
Snowpack
Surface snow was extremely variable. There was a nice dusting of graupel from yesterday. However, most aspects held a crust (sometimes supportable, sometimes not- and, surprisingly hard to predict) with 5" of healing near surface facets underneath. This made for challenging turns. The Stem Christie and the Power Wedge being the favored techniques of the day...
The near surface facets (weak surface snow crystals) are gaining strength with the warmer temps and are significantly more consolidated than they were a week ago. To put this in perspective, last week we were very concerned about how weak the snow surface was in some of our favorite big terrain. It was weak enough that we thought it could be a significant weak layer once it gets buried. After the warm temperatures this week, we are not as concerned with the current surface becoming a persistent weak layer after it gets buried.
Sastrugi (due to strong east winds) was 6" to a foot high on the exposed ridge line at 10200ft. I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo. Trust me, it was impressive.