Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>There was obvious wind transport which raised the threat level, but I did not find any wind slabs in the one run that I skied. But there might be some out there somewhere.</p>
Despite the skiff of new snow and wind activity, the avalanche picture is the same as it's been for the last week: user friendly. I did notice, however, that the upper 15 cm of the snowpack is considerably less cohesive than it was on Friday. I did not have my field microscope with me to verify, but it sure felt like there is some type of faceting metamorphosis happening. It doesn't seem like conditions would create conditions to produce it, and I cannot comment on whether or not it is widespread. It was deeper than the Near Surface Facets that I might have expected, and certainly deeper than Surface Hoar. Whatever the mechanism and type, the snow that I observed in the top of the snowpack while climbing was definitely losing cohesion and could present a discontinuity to any slab (wind or otherwise) that forms on top of it. It is something I will be keeping an eye out for.
Snowpack
An inch or two of new snow and significant wind transport down off the ridges overnight freshened the riding surfaces without creating any new avalanche hazard.