Quick report
- Aspect
- Southwest
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2804 m
- Slope Angle
- 20°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>No red flags today...... As with what I observed on Friday about 8 miles south, the wildcard ? is there enough snow to initiate a collapse if we get a load. Today I was 700' higher than Friday and my suspicions were confirmed when I found facets above the ground. Kind of like finding a rash you suspected but didn't know you had....... The facets were 1-2" thick, It is difficult to say if they are contiguous enough to cause a problem. My guess is maybe. Photos below.</p>
Snow profile consists of 1-2" of basal facets, dry, 4 finger, not thick enough to measure fist but likely.
Facets are overlain by a decomposing crust, 1 finger+. Upper snow is dry decomposing and faceting crystals.
Photos below:
1. Poor photo of Facets, still figuring out the new gizmo phone.....
2. Area overview, theses photos are valuable to help remember where the old snow is. The slide paths on the left are more west facing and have less old snow. Paths on Right have more east in them and less snow. my main concern is the center paths. Ridge line is 9,800 to 10,000'.
3. Cowboy Strava (real cowboys, the ones that ride horses that is)
Another day of hiking until punching through the snow got annoying.
The real guess is how much old snow does it take to initiate a collapse and resultant avalanche. This is a difficult ?
Snowpack
Started @7,000' on patchy snow. Continuous cover on shady aspects above 8,000.
At 9,200', HST ranged from 4-8" in shady and north aspects. Some deeper areas are likely due to drifting or pooling. Surface was dry in this area. Profile below.