Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
It's a patchwork of snow surfaces in the lower Avalanche Gulch/Giddy Giddy Gulch area. Strong north/northwest winds have scoured most surfaces back to the pre-existing crust and redistributed the recent snow into small slabs on leeward terrain features, including in gullies and beneath ridgelines. Most of the wind slabs were stubborn to human triggers, one was reactive - see instability comments below. These slabs were small and did not extend far downslope. However, they could be dangerous if triggered in extreme terrain. In areas where fresh snow covers the crust, snow depths ranged from .5 inches - "dust-on-crust" - to over 15 inches in one wind-drifted location near treeline.
The upcoming weather looks promising for a melt-freeze cycle on wind-protected solar aspects. However, wind-drifted areas will take longer to transition to corn snow than the crust. Expect variable conditions for skiing and riding in the coming days.
Firm, icy surfaces with slide-for-life potential exist on many steep slopes.
Skier-initiated shooting cracks on a wind-drifted feature near treeline - southwest, 8,100 feet. This crack broke about five inches deep on a graupel layer within the recent snow.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 2
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Mostly clear skies at lower elevations with a cloud cap on the upper mountain throughout the tour. Light winds below treeline increased with elevation. Moderate northerly winds with strong gusts on an exposed ridgeline near and above treeline.
Snowpack
On a southwest aspect at 8,300 feet, a 15-inch wind slab (1F throughout) sat atop the crust. This slab did not produce propagating results on an ECT. No graupel layers were observed at this location.