Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2652 m
In all our travels today, we had no collapsing which indicates the PWL is gaining strength and adjusting to the load. Still, the poor snowpack structure is a concern and from what we saw today, still needs more time to adjust.
The two photos show:
- the poor snowpack structure of strong snow over weak snow;
- the location of the faceted layer where our fractures were occurring.
Huge thanks to the snow safety team at Powder Mountain for working with us today to access backcountry terrain adjacent to the resort. The UAC greatly values our partnership with all snow safety professionals.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Slopes facing west/north/east have a weak PWL in the bottom of the snowpack. We dug several pits on these aspects between 8,200 and 9,400 and every extended column test failed on isolation or at most 22 taps:</p> <p> </p> <p>8,700 NE ECTPV (failed on isolation)</p> <p> </p> <p>8,900' NE ECTP21</p> <p> </p> <p>9,000 NE ECTP22</p> <p> </p> <p>9,400' E ECTP21</p> <p> </p> <p>9,000 W ECTPV x 2 (repeated the test and it failed again on isolation)</p> <p> </p> <p>Most failures were occurring 20-30 cms above the ground in a layer of facets that formed following the Thanksgiving storm and was subsequently buried over the few storms the past few weeks.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
HS (height of snow) averages a meter (40") above 8,400'