Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2896 m
- Slope Angle
- 36°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No real red flags observed today. The basal facets could be the one exception, but the thick competent bridge would need a really big event to overload. There is enough weak surface snow around that could also act as our next weak layer, but the recent warm weather has likely helped to strengthen it, still worth watching. My guess is the next event will be new snow only.</p>
We need way more than just a refresher!
Low danger tomorrow based on the fact that it might not snow much with an easterly component in the forecast....
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>low</p> <p>low</p>
Trace of new snow, irrelevant to quality of skiing (or lack of)
melt freeze crusts and damp snow below 8000. Didn't really dry out until >9000'.
Snow surface very variable, weak faceted snow and stout supportable wind crusts with the full range in between.
Many areas of weak faceted snow, HS 50 to 75 cm and easy to punch through to the ground with a ski pole basket. Areas above 9000' are generally more wind/skier compacted and as my profile shows, the snow pack appears stronger than expected in this area. The one caveat is that it is highly variable, I could have dug 5 more pits that would have been very different.
The lower road seems to have a very disproportionate high coverage given the lack of cover in the upper elevations.
Everything below 9000' was damp on our exit at 3 pm.