Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3078 m
- Slope Angle
- 35°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The primary red flag in this area appears to be the weak basal facets. They are buried 4' below the surface in this area. They could easily be a low probability but high consequence situation. I think it would take a large trigger or a thin spot to activate.</p> <p>Some wind drifts but they seemed benign, the warm weather likely helped, it was about freezing at 10,000'.</p>
HS=48"
Of note are loose slightly decomposing basal facets. Somewhere between 4-finger and fist hardness, about 5-6" thick (photo below). Note: I also felt this layer at the base of the pack while track skiing at Deer Hollow near Navajo Lake this morning. I did not investigate knowing I would be making turns later in the day.
One decomposing crust about 8-10" above the facets.
The remainder of the snow pack grades from a 2-finger mi-pack to a 4 finger upper pack.
Photos below:
1. Basal facets
2. Surface forms including surface hoar, rime, graupel, and pellets.
Photos below:
1. The rime event made me think to look real close at the snow surface where I found a very subtle, delicate crust as shown in photo 2. The crust was very hard to isolate and was not felt while breaking trail or skiing, I had to look very close.
Photo below:
Official ski food of SW Utah!
Overall a low danger, the currently forecasted snow totals should not increase the danger unless they are accompanied by strong winds.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Most likely low danger but present.</p> <p>Most likely low danger.</p>
Still some settled powder here and there. Also areas of dense loose and wind affected snow. The surface in this area had far more structure than I have observed in the Pahvants this week. Nowhere did I observed the weak loose facets that I had been skiing to the north. The trade-off is that the basal facets are looser and weaker (see profile below).
Trace of new snow in the form of pellets/graupel.