Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2377 m
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>We did not experience any cracking or collapsing in our travels. A "poorer" snow structure than expected. See below.</p>
Surface hoar and facets formed over the weekend and early week are now buried in some locations by the Valentines Day "storm". 5mm SH noted intact along the ridglines and below 8000'. It did take some 'teasing out' below the new stellars but it is present in nearly all the places we looked. Some was laying over, some was not. This should be on the radar with upcoming storms.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>While we saw little to no wind damage/loading up high, winds from the southwest from 2/13/24 preferentially cross-loaded terrain well off the ridgelines. See photos below of wind drifted snow and the subsequent nasty ride below.</p> <p>Frequent probing yielded a fairly consistent picture just above and just below 8000' on shady aspects (note that top of the ridgeline is 8200'): Total depths of 100-130cm with 20-30cm depth hoar at the base of the pack. See profile. <strong>Despite the ECTXs, I did not like the structure and opted to remain on low angle slopes. Ski tracks noted, however, in steep terrain w/o incident. </strong>Photo of depth hoar below.</p>
Solars and low elevation snow became damp with sun/warming.