Quick report
- Collapsing
- isolated
The winds have been doing some serious work in the Northern Elkhorns over the past several days. On some slopes, the wind had removed most of the snow, but in other sheltered locations, we found snow depths of over 3'. Although our travels were limited, in the two places we dug to assess the snowpack, we found good snowpack structure. Having a solid base to start the season out for backcountry riders is critical, so we hope to continue to observe similar structures in the Wallowas and Blues.
We had one isolated collapse while ascending the Avalanche ski run en route to the ridge.Weather
- Air Temp
- 32
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 6500
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
It was a stormy day out in the mountains, with a mix of snow, moderate winds, and obscured skies. The new snow that had fallen in the past 24 hours (6") was heavy so although the winds were strong enough to transport snow, there was little wind loading in our location.
Snowpack
My partners and I dug two pits, the first at 7,600' on an NE aspect, and found just under 3' of snow depth. Our second snow pit was on a North aspect at 7,800' with just over 3' of total snow. Overall we were impressed with our findings in both snowpits. Typically after early season snowfall, we would see some weak sugary snow in our snowpit. Fortunately, we haven't had any extended periods of cold/clear weather between storms which are the culprit for producing weak snow layers.