Quick report
During my travels today I searched for buried surface hoar. I was unable to confidently identify any in the three locations (8400' NW relatively sheltered, 7600' NE sheltered, 7500' SE sheltered) that I looked, however, a noticeable storm snow interface was visible as a thin grey line in my pits, and produced planar fractures during shovel tilt tests. This interface appeared to be a very thin layer of well preserved stellars and small (2mm) graupel. There was an obvious lack of slab cohesion, especially on polar aspects. I did observe very small wind slabs that were reactive on exposed ridge lines, but the overall wind affect appeared to be minor with calm winds through 3:00PM when I left the field. During my visit to 8400' I dug on a NW aspect and observed 45cm's (1+ feet) of snow on top of the Feb 1st rain crust, which did not fracture during a compression test in this particular location. Both the Feb 1st and the smaller crusts directly below it are sandwiched by weak faceted snow grains. Given the consequences of overlapping avalanche problems in steep terrain I avoided slopes over 30 and exposed routes of travel. Angell Basin attracted heavy use today with 6+ other parties. Very few clouds made for a moist snow surface on SW-SE exposures by mid afternoon. Small soft slab avalanches noted in the aprons of Lakes and Gunsight. Both natural and within the last 24hrs.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 16
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 20-30
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Clear and cold throughout the day with high solar input. Very light winds out of the NW at Ridgeline.
Snowpack
HST ranges from 20-35cm's in the areas observed with 5-10cms in the last 24hrs. Minimal wind effect except on exposed ridge lines. Surface conditions range from very light storm snow on polar aspects to very minor sun affect on solar aspects. The Feb 1st rain crust is now approximately 30-50cm's down and snowpack depths range from 160-210cm above 7500'.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 8200 ft
Small soft slab within new storm snow.