Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 1981 m
- Slope Angle
- 29°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Mostly the poor structure is for the future, next time it snows. There could still be a few hard wind drifts that could be triggered.</p>
Snow profile above: Dug in a wind sheltered area. Surface snow is weakening, surface hoar is fairly wide spread on the shady slopes. Mid pack weak layer beneath the crust was unreactive, and will hopefully strengthen at this elevation? I'd still dig down and keep track of it.
A quick pit at 7,300, north facing, was actually more interesting as it was up in more wind affected terrain. Hard wind slabs of different thicknesses, sitting on weak snow. In the pit below, ECTN2 right below the wind slab. ECTX on the lower layer, but then the lower weak layer "popped" out cleanly with the pull of a shove. So again, I'd still be digging down and keeping track of this lower weak layer. My layering of concern right now though are the wind slabs - that in very isolated places you could pop one out and go for a ride.
Other photos:
Surface hoar
riming near the pass - on the upwind side of the branches only
view - clouds down low, sun up high
Snowpack
Snow surface and near surface facets on the shady slope. Low down, the surface hoar was rimed, higher it was clean. It was easy to trigger very small surface sluffs, both in areas where it's on a wind slab and slopes without wind slabs. Some "styrofoam" conditions, but snow was generally softer than I expected.