Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2743 m
We dug a pit near the summit of Maple Mountain (9090) at 8 am, and found the snow depth to be 55 cm. This pit was not in a wind drift, which were common. Soft, but dense snow was the upper layer and made for great riding conditions notwithstanding the relatively shallow depth. The mid layer was harder, and the bottommost layer was surprisingly wet and soft. At lower elevations of 7800-8000 feet, we noticed that the midlayer was a hard crust.
A compression test near the summit found a collapse at the third tap from the shoulder, but the slab couldn't cleanly slide off.
We experienced several audible collapses in wind drifts on the ridge between 8300-9000 feet.
Snow depths were much shallower in Slide Canyon near Bear Flat - closer to 8-10 inches.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>There were many signs of wind drifted snow on the north ridge of Maple Mountain between 8400-9090 ft. We could see the pillows and more barren spots. We experienced collapses in the wind drifted snow on the ridge. We were surprised to watch as wind gusts picked up and drifted snow as we passed on the ridge.</p> <p>We were surpised to find the bottommost layer (5-10 cm) of the snowpack (55 cm) to be very wet, even in sub-freezing temperatures. </p>