Portneuf Range
Quick report
High winds certainly made for concerns around wind loading, but we did not observe any glaring signs of instability due the wind where we skied. No cracking, and no 'whoopfing' observed. Up high, winds were blowing well above 40mph. Anything above 8000ft was socked up in the clouds for the entirety of the day and well below freezing temps. Biggest red flag was the high winds, however no cracking or 'whoomfing' was present. Gusts up to 40+ mph. There is a weak layer 50cm from the surface that did fail in a column test CT28. These seemed to resemble very small graupel grains versus rounded facets. My guess is this layer was the precursor to the snowfall we received on 3/5.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 50cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
25 degrees and high winds prevailing from SW. At 9000ft, gusts were easily surpassing 40-50mph, with wind completely disappearing below 7500ft.
Snowpack
New snow seems to have bonded well overall and fallen right-side-up. Seems to have settled well over the last day and a half. We only dug about 100cm down from surface, and the biggest concern was a layer about 50cm from the surface. Upon a CT test, this layer failed on a CT28, but ECTX.Total snow measured 200cm where we dug.