Quick report
We did not experience signs of instability or encounter any notable Persistent Slab problems. We targeted a single old drift on a northeast feature that had poor structure, but did not collapse. Persistent Slab problems in this basin appeared to be isolated and difficult to trigger as slabs were quite hard. We did not encounter any significant wind loading from the extreme winds. You can find soft snow if you hunt for sheltered features below treeline.
No signs of instability in recently drifted snow and no collapses as we traveled over isolated old drifts.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 1
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Skies became partly cloudy midday with moderate winds above 11,000 feet. Intense winds overnight made it difficult to measure the recent snow, but it was likely an inch or less.
Snowpack
Highly sheltered northerly slope below treeline often had a soft surface, but most open terrain was highly variable from the recent winds. As we moved near treeline the snow surface was a patchwork of recent wind board, hard old drifts, or small pockets of soft sastrugi.
Slopes south of due east have developed melt/freeze crusts at the surface. Southeast slopes near treeline have strong, supportive-to-boot, crusts and ice columns to the ground (see profile).
A single test profile on a drifted, northeast feature at 11,400 feet produced moderate propagating results in basal facets below a hard slab 70cm thick. The facets appear to be rounding slightly with a hand hardness of fist plus or 4-finger minus. Persistent Slab structure appeared to be isolated and small in this basin.