Tenderfoot

APU Snow Science class braved the elements on a short field tour on Tenderfoot to look at the persistent weak layers in the snowpack and to observe the strong winds. We stayed at low elevations to avoid any new wind slabs. Winds were actively moving snow around even in lower elevations, but the most impressive was the significant snow transport that was happening in the ridge tops. Full on blizzard in the alpine bowls at times mixed in with normal flagging and snowdevils . Cornices were also growing and sharpening almost in our eyes. There was no new snow in the last 24 hrs, but there was variable amounts of soft snow on surface in sheltered terrain. Surface conditions included wind skin and hard crust that had been scoured. The temperatures were in the single digits to teens and way "warmer" than we were expecting. Sky was clear and we did feel sun on our faces for a bit in the early afternoon. Our only red flag was localized cracking under skis/foot when traveling on recently wind impacted snow, but we did not take a chance to see other signs of wind slabs on our tour. We saw a fairly recent midelevation D1-2 slab on Butch, but were not sure if it happened during our field day or not. Snowpack structure is poor. We dug in the snow @1900' NE aspect. HS: 120-140cm. Main layer of concern is Dec facets @90cm down (ECTP24SC) but we had also reactivity on layer of rounding facets @ 60cm down (PST54/100End). Basal facets had some cupping and striations. We did not take many pictures during the day, too cold in the wind!

Quick report