Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking
- Elevation
- 3139 m
- Slope Angle
- 26°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>New snow and wind are what I had my eye on today. </p>
Big picture... Pretty good start to the early season pack but too soon to start celebrating. After the storm clears we will have a better picture on how reactive the basal facets on the N half of the compass will be. There is a lot of variability out there, this was the most reactive pit I dug today. Others contained moist facets at the ground with no propagation as opposed to the well defined depth hoar that showed propagation in these tests. Be weary of wind loaded slopes over the next day or two, be mindful of aspect as the pack will should be more stable on the S half. A thin snow pack is a weak snow pack, time and weather will tell where we go from here.
Photo 1 depth hoar that was the cause of propagation in my pit.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The new snow is very light and was sluffing quite a bit even on very low angle slopes. The pack is right side up and hasn't consolidated but will when the storm calms. </p> <p>There was a mixed bag out there today, the wind slabs that are firm are delicate and would crack when approaching, on the other hand there were just as many unconsolidated wind slabs but they are deep! They will be large and touchy as the snow continues. </p>
The new snow was the light fluffy Utah powder that our dreams are made of. I abstained from doing too much riding today and dug around a lot instead.