Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No red flags today in my travels, even the winds on the ridge lines were very light to calm most of the afternoon. I checked, "poor snowpack structure" as the only concern I observed. There is some weak sugary snow near the ground on the higher north facing slopes, but it is not a wide spread issue. I dug two snow pits, one due north that had some very weak snow and I could not isolate a column for a stability test. The other snow pit was a slope that had a little south orientation to it and very little weak snow near the ground. </p>
Riders are beginning to get out and enjoy the great early season conditions. Low clouds and light snowfall today.
This snow pit on a southeast facing slope has just a thin layer of weak snow near the ground, while a snow pit on a north facing slope had very weak sugary snow and I could not isolate a column.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Generally, I think the snowpack in the Whitney Basin is fairly stable, other than those isolated north facing slopes where there is some bigger weak sugary snow near the ground. A person could find some trouble if they worked at it, but the accessible terrain is still limited.</p> <p>Could be a lingering wind slab on the leeward side of wind drifted slopes, likely on east and southeast. </p>
The coverage is still thin, but this is some of the best early season conditions in awhile. The current snowpack around Gold Hill and the Whitney area is only around two feet in depth, but the riding and turning is quite good.