Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Four red flags out of seven seems about right for this overachieving storm.</p>
Headed up Willow to the Hour Glass today, as soon as we started hiking you could see signs of instabilities in the new snow. The road cut banks were cracking out and propagating about a foot deep with very little coaxing. Once we got out of the forest the wind was cranking out of the SW transporting massive quantities of snow, and slabbing up the exposed S-SW. I thought the storm was going to peter out midday but instead the wind and snow intensified around 2:00pm. I was curious about what was going on in West Monitor, thinking that it was primed to avalanche big with the massive wind loading but between the wind and white out conditions never got a look. I would think there was a natural avalanche cycle mid morning into mid day seeing how sensitive the storm snow was. The storm snow instabilities should settle out rapidly with settlement but the wind slab problem will probably last a day or two.
video of storm snow instabilities
photo: deep trail breaking
Hazard was most likely high today with naturals and human triggered avalanches likely, thinking considerable tomorrow due to the large amount of snow and wind.
Snowpack
18 inches at the upper Solitude parking when we arrived around 10:30, not sure how much up high due to wind but in the 2 foot range. Light density in protected terrain, inverted and a little slaby in wind exposed terrain.