Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
A very stormy day with the avalanche hazard increasing dramatically during heavy snowfall late morning. By the time we exited the field (noon), we could easily trigger slides at the base of the new snow. The Solstice Crust still looks pretty weak in the one spot we looked.
Avalanches: Small natural and skier triggered slides. Cracking: short shooting cracks (3-6ft) were observed both going up and coming down. These became more prevalent during and after periods of heavy snowfall.Weather
- Air Temp
- 23
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 500
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Very stormy morning. Snowfall rates increased to 2-3in per hour at times. Winds were generally light with minimal wind affect where we traveled. Temperatures were markedly warmer above 4500ft. On the way up we began to sweat, on the way down freeze.
Snowpack
New snow: When we started our tour, there was about 3in (8cm) of new snow, by the end, another 4in (10cm) had fallen at Pass level. The new snow was very low density and dry. It failed easily on the 1/16 interface in handpits, small slopes. uptrack tests, and tilt tests. Above 4500ft a very thin crust underlays the new snow.
1/16 Interface: We found small near surface facets at the base of some slabs on the 1/16 interface. Later, conditions were too stormy to identify them in any snowpack tests or avalanches.
Upper Snowpack: Other than the 1/16 interface, the upper snowpack is strong and well settled. You can still see other layers (1/8, 1/4), but they did not produce any results.
Solstice Crust: This facet/crust matrix still appears very weak and failed suddenly in several deep tap tests. 4mm needly columns were observed at this layer (see photo). Our profile was on a WNW aspect at 4800ft.
Avalanche
Naturals: Two small natural storm slabs: One NW 3800ft, and one N 4100ft: SS-N-D1-R2-I Several skier triggered storm slabs on N-W aspects between 3800 and 4800ft. 6-8inches deep and ~20ft wide.