Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>We viewed two natural avalanches today. The first was a Wind Drifted Snow avalanche that failed at the old snow interface in the skier's left side of the Funnel. It ran about 500 feet. This is the first avalanche I have seen in the Funnel in 9 seasons of skiing the La Sals. The second was a larger and deeper avalanche that failed on buried facets in Exxon's Folly. This avalanche ran about 600 feet. Check out the avalanche obs for full details on these slides. </p> <p>We experienced one collapse today as we were leaving our pit site on Julie's Backside on a NE facing slope around 10,900 ft. We observed poor snowpack structure in this pit, but we got an ECTX. </p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>PWL remains sensitive and was further stressed by a foot of dense new snow and intense blowing and drifting snow. We observed one new avalanche failing on the PWL today. The slide in Exxon's went to the ground and ran 600 feet. We experienced one isolated collapse today on a NE aspect.</p> <p> </p> <p>We dug on a NE aspect around 10,900 ft. HS 120cm. ECTX. The weak layer is buried 83cm below the surface. There is a stout 1F slab above the weak layer. The facets have gained some hardness and are 4F to F+ as you get closer to the ground. </p> <p> </p> <p>The PWL will remain right on the edge of it's breaking point Thursday, and is primed for human triggering.</p> <p>We observed one natural avalanche involving wind drifted snow today. We observed Moderate to Intense snow transport throughout the day. Visibility was low today, but there are many slopes where a skier or rider could easily trigger an avalanche in wind-drifted snow on Thursday.</p> <p> </p> <p>New Snow: The new snow was very dense and created a widespread storm slab. Hand shears pulled out easy, and shovel tilts sheared with Moderate force. We experienced no cracking of the storm slab in our travels today. The danger for triggering a storm slab avalanche is trending down. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
Very interesting surface conditions today. My party had a lot of different adjectives to describe the snow surface. Styrofoam, velvet, cream cheese. It actually made for very fun skiing. The new snow was very dense and ski penetration was only 2-3" even with 12" of new snow. Conditions were very deceiving today. It was hard to tell just how much new snow had fallen. The strong winds had stripped most of the snow from any windward slope, and in some places it was hard to tell that it had even snowed. We took measurements in sheltered areas, did several quick hand pits, and dug a full pit on a NE slope around 10,900 ft. Also, the storm board had a foot of new snow and was not drifted in.
The new snow has formed a dense slab (4F) sitting on top of the softer (F+) old snow surface.