Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
We found an average of 6-8 inches of recent snow over the most recent, 12/7 crust. SW-SE aspects have warmed up and will have a crust moving forward. We noticed some rollerballs on solars, but minimal wet loose activity. Shaded aspects are still holding onto cold snow and good riding conditions. Wind-loaded snow appeared stubborn, but did produce a couple of notable test results. The 12/7 crust isn't much of an issue right now, but it could be a good bed surface for future avalanches once we receive a loading event.
The approach and exit are still sporty. Low tide conditions still exist at lower elevations with many open creeks and shallowly buried objects present.
Instabilities were confined to wind loaded slopes above 6000'Weather
- Air Temp
- 40
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 15-20 cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
High pressure led to another sharp temperature inversion. Once we drove above 3500' we broke out of the fog and into more comfortable temperatures. Temps warmed into the low 40s during the afternoon and winds remained calm.
Snowpack
Lower elevations are still quite shallow with many hidden hazards and obstacles to navigate. Once you gain above 5500' you start finding more confident inspiring depths. Probing around W aspects above 5500' revealed depths of 90-110 cm and a thin surface crust from recent warming. The other side of the ridge on E/NE aspects held an HS of 190-210cm and held onto cold, preserved snow.
The only signs of warming we witnessed were a few rollerballs on SW-SE aspects. We didn't observe any wet loose activity. These aspects will have a thin surface crust until we receive more new snow.
Our focus was to investigate the most recent 12/7 rain crust across the terrain (from the start of the storm before the transition to snow). We generally found 6-8 inches of lower-density snow over this crust in wind-sheltered terrain. Wind-loaded features held 1-2' of stiffened snow over this crust.
In these wind-loaded areas we did receive a few notable test results in a test profile on an NE @ 6000 ft:
- ECTP 14, 25 cm below the surfaces, failing on the crust.
- CT12, SC, 25 cm below the surface, failing on the crust.
- ECTN13, 25 cm below the surface, failing on the crust.
We only received these unstable test results in wind-loaded pockets. Areas sheltered from the wind are lacking slab-like characteristics.
The overall ski quality was decent, but you still felt the crust with most turns.