Quick report
Sunny/rocky slopes were producing small "roller balls" as well as some isolated rockfall. Instability was limited to the top few centimeters of recent snow. Isolated rockfall was observed.
Weather
- Air Temp
- low 30s
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 4-8
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Sunny and with high clouds. Warm temperatures were softening small amounts of recent snowfall on sunny slopes. Solar heating did not penetrate beyond the top 10cm or so of the snowpack. Light to moderate NE winds at ridgetops were redistributing small amounts of recently deposited dry snow.
Snowpack
Near the hillclimb course at 2500 feet elevation, we observed the snowpack to be about 130 cm deep with poor structure and fair to good strength. The top meter of the snowpack was fairly consolidated and remained intact when isolated and stressed with stability tests. 30+cm of weak snow (depth hoar) at the bottom of the snowpack was creating a poor structure that is currently not under enough stress to be a major concern in the observed area; however, this could change with an increase in temperature or significant snowfall. At the moment, the thick, consolidated slab is bridging the weak snow underneath, creating a supportive layer for humans and machines to travel on. As temperatures increase, we will want to keep an eye on how deep the warming penetrates the snowpack. If you start to find wet snow well below the surface, you can expect the strength and stability of this overlying slab to decrease, causing wet loose or wet slab avalanche hazards on steep slopes. If we see significant snowfall, the added stress will increase the chances of failure on buried weak snow under thick slabs and will warrant cautious terrain selection to avoid hazardous avalanches. The takeaway: relatively stable conditions exist in the observed area, despite the poor structure. Keep an eye out for changes in conditions that could stress and destabilize the snowpack. These include warming temperatures, increased solar radiation, new snow, and wind loading that could cause significant changes in stability due to this setup with weak snow under a thick slab.
We have a highly variable snowpack this year, so snowpack conditions may vary considerably in different areas. Be sure to reassess as you move to new terrain.