Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Weak faceted snow exists in areas that are sheltered by wind and sun. Today we came across really weak snow on west apects below and near tree line. </p>
I'm flip flopping on going with low or moderate, because there is a a low danger in a lot of places right now. However I think an overall moderate is appropriate due to heightened avalanche conditions on specific terrain features where small human triggered avalanches are possible.
In the first four photos you can get an idea of just how much scouring has occurred in the alpine. In the last photo it's hard to tell what's going on, but this is really deep ski penetration while skinning. The snow structure here is slush on top of large facets that were soaking wet, almost all the way to the ground. Really weak snow structure here. This was a SW aspect at 9,600 feet.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I think any problems with wind drifted snow associated with Monday's storm are becoming less of a concern now. Older drifts seems stubborn and hard. While any recent drifting is very shallow. Charlie triggered a very small (1 to 2 inch) pocket of wind drifted snow on a steep NE aspect in middle snow cirque and it was a non issue. </p> <p>Weak faceted snow exists beneath monday's storm snow in a variety of areas. You are most likely to find this weak snow in sheltered shady terrain below tree line. You can also find weak faceted snow near tree line on steep sheltered slopes, especially those that face north. Places that come to mind are Julie's backside and the terrain up ridge over to Coyote. Also places like the steep chutes adjacent to Exxon's and down ridge over to Noriega's. It really takes some shelter from the trees to find the really weak deep facets. But I think human triggered avalanches are still possibile in these specific types of terrain. On the other hand this is less of an issue in the high alpine. We traveled up and down on steep north facing terrain above treeline on hard snow surfaces. A party of four skied the NE face of Tuk on what also looked like firm snow. Exposed terrain in the alpine was previously wind scoured or sun affected and didn't develop the really weak facets like we are finding in sheltered areas. With that said, it's not totally bomber. If you shove your ski pole through the hard, supportable crust on these aspect, you will still find less cohesive snow a good ways down. </p>
There's a wide variety of snow conditions in the range right now. Today we were corn hunting and decided on a SW apsect. Snow was firm down to about 11,600. After that it was soft and got better the lower you got. Soft snow all the way down to 9,400 ft. Not full on corn, no large rounded grains like you get with a mature corn cycle. But the snow was supportable, soft, and carvable. Damp below 10,000 feet, but still supportable and fun!