Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Pre-frontal winds seemed the biggest red flag today.</p>
Solid group from Westminster College Level 1 today. Travel was along west ridge of Peak 10420. Here is the summary of what our group found:
- Three distinct weaknesses in the top 50-60 cms (20-24") of the snowpack. Very easy to isolate the weakness with shovel tilt as we were getting clean, resistant-planar shears.
- Extended column tests were getting collapses of the weak layers, but no propagation of the slab.
- Snowpack felt "rightside up" as it progressed from F-hard snow at the surface to 1F snow just above the facets at the ground. The faceted layer at the ground ranged from F to 4F hard.
- Traveling into terrain with wind loading we were finding very shallow, sensitive wind drifts by mid-day on aspects being loaded from the W/SW winds.
Overall we felt the hazard was Moderate in mid-elevations, and Considerable in upper elevations with wind loading.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Our group today felt the weaknesses in the top 50 cms of the snowpack were the biggest concern. With no propagations with ECTs, we did not feel the current slab was enough to overload the weaknesses, but were concerned with new wind loading and snowfall.</p>
Perhaps 5 cms new exiting at 4 pm. Varied snow surface with some near surface facets noted on protected, northerly aspects. Snowpack was 135 cms on northerly aspect at 10000'.