Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Today's objective was to investigate access conditions for the Parks Creek area, and monitor the arrival of the ensuing storm system. Access to the Parks Creek Trailhead is still quite difficult. If taking snowmobiles, prepare for difficult route finding. Once past the trailhead, coverage is good enough for easy travel. Deadfall meadow is still quite shallow, with many creeks exposed or partially covered. The storm began to impact the Eddy's area by 1100, bringing moderate/strong southeast wind, intensifying snowfall, and cooling temperatures. Intense wind transport was observed below, and near the treeline, pushing snow onto northerly aspects. Wind slabs and new cornice growth can be found on west-northwest-north-northeast aspects with touchy sensitivity.
Observed instability was minimal until wind and snowfall increased. As the storm intensified, cracking increased on leeward aspects, mainly due to wind drifted snow and cornice growth.Weather
- Air Temp
- 33
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Rain Elevation
- 5,100
- Recent Snowfall
- 1-3
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Storm conditions developed throughout the outing. Upon first arrival, we experienced partly cloudy skies, moderate winds, and light precipitation. This quickly changed to moderate/strong southeast winds, on and off snowfall, and degrading visibility. By 1400, snowfall had increased to around 1 inch per hour, and visibility dropped to less than 500 feet.
Snowpack
Overall, the old snow proves to be strong and supportable. In most areas, boot penetration is around 10 inches. In the shaded aspects, where snow remains dry and cold, boot penetration is a bit deeper.
Avalanche
While snowmobiling up a northeast-southwest ridge, my partner remote triggered a cornice collapse onto the northerly aspect. This collapse broke ~30 feet wide, and ran 50 feet into trees. This was a great indicator of the sensitivity of these developing wind drifts and cornices.