Quick report
- Aspect
- West
- Red Flags
- Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3139 m
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Felt several collapses on the way in. I dug on a west aspect around 10,300' and found 60 cms total snow depth with bottom 24 cms completely faceted. The dense storm snow from Nov 26 formed a cohesive slab from 4f to 1f hardness except for the top 14 cms which were loose, medium density powder. An extended column test produced an ECTP 11 at the top of the faceted layer. </p>
Typical set up and this problem will be with us for awhile. Great to see the recent base building material however, and it was a beautiful day out there!
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>A thick layer of basal facets will be our persistent weak layer for quite some time. </p> <p>Basal faceted weak layer visible beneath the most recent, dense, storm snow. </p> <p>Extended column test results of ECTP 11 on top of the faceted layer. </p>
Storm two days ago deposited 18" of snow at 3.7" SWE. The last 6" or so were medium density powder. It still skied really well today with skis penetrating down to the surface of the dense layer. By afternoon, sun exposed slopes were taking on heat and getting damp. They'll be mostly crusted over by tomorrow.