Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
We experienced widespread collapsing in flat meadows and on ridgelines throughout our travels today but didn’t witness any cracking. Travel and ski conditions were such a treat with mostly calm winds and that cold smoke we’ve all been patiently waiting for.
Photo 1 - Large, connected avalanche on West Desolation Ridge partially filled in from today’s snow and wind transport. Photo 2 - Firewater avalanche Photo 3 - Sheep Sh*t Ridge avalanches. Crowns looked very fresh but don’t know if these ran naturally or were remotely triggered.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Went out to witness the avalanche cycle from this storm and the snow did not disappoint. Today great day for observing large, scary avalanches from afar and skiing low angle cold smoke on the Park City Ridgeline. We didn’t get too close to any avalanches except for yesterday’s avalanche on Firewater. It looked like this avalanche ran on the DJL and didn’t step down to any deeper layers. We didn’t dig around in the snow during our travels, but all of the avalanches we witnessed today were evidence enough that the persistent weak layers are, well, persisting.</p> <p>Winds were mostly calm today except for some periods of strong, westerly gusts on the mid-elevation ridge lines we were traveling on. These gusts were short lived but able to transport plenty of snow. </p>