Quick report
This was an off duty ski day to look at and get some snow in my face.
I did not experience obvious signs of instability like cracking and collapsing.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Recent Snowfall
- 10-15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Overcast to obscured skies, with snowfall rates between S-1 and S3 observed. Approximately 10-15cm of very low density (estimated at 5%) fell here in the past 12 hours. I could occasionally hear the wind blowing aloft, but the terrain I was in was sheltered and calm.
Snowpack
Wow, impressive storm! 2/24 interface is now buried down 90+cm on sheltered, middle elevation slopes. The slab overlying 2/24 grades from F-- to F in the upper half, and F+ to 1F in the lower half.
In a pit at 7,400' on a W aspect:
HS=240cm
2/24 down 90cm - I was unable to impact this with standard loading steps of the ECT, but the interface is ugly, with facets on top of a crust. I received propagating results with nonstandard force (an additional 8-10 hits from the shoulder) on this interface.
2/1 down 135 cm - I did not test this layer due to depth.
In this same snowpit location earlier in the week (2/28, Wednesday), I received ECTNs on the 2/24 interface (lack of slab) and ECTPs on the 2/1 interface. Both of these are still in play, but their depth and the slab above them is likely to make triggering more difficult.
Avalanche
I was able to trigger small, dry loose slides involving the most recent snow in steep, sheltered terrain. I observed a handful of small loose snow avalanches that had released naturally in steep terrain, likely thanks to small gusts of wind.