Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
We toured from the IM lot into the Fairangel Cirque and out Archangel road. Throughout our tour we found variable surface conditions, soft snow in protected valley bottoms, and a surface wind skin/slab most everywhere else. As we toured around Pinnacle Lake to gain the Fairangel ridge we began to notice the presence of a fresh surface wind skin. We encountered another group who, while skinning up a S aspect at ~4800', observed a shooting crack and the corner of their kick turn pop out. We continued on and tracked the thickness of the wind skin and its reactivity. At a WNW aspect at 5300', a member in our group experienced a 5'+ long shooting crack on both sides of them in a 6"-10" thick wind slab. We continued to manage our exposure and while skiing a NE facing line into the Fairangel cirque we found the thin surface wind slab to be widespread and reactive. At each turn it would crack and break off at the foot and be ~4"-6" thick. Considering our car was at the mine and not wanting to be exposed to where the wind slab could be thicker, we traversed out and down Archangel road. Once we were touring by Pinnacle Lake we began to encounter light snow transport and a thin (2"-3" thick) wind skin forming. Higher up we observed plates of fresh wind-drifted snow break off underfoot easily and on a WNW aspect at 5300' we observed a 5'+ long shooting crack. The crack formed where the surface wind slab was thicker (6"-10").
Weather
- Air Temp
- 20s
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- ~1"
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Overcast skies and pleasant temps throughout the day. Winds were calm-light aside from moderate winds at ridgetops where snow was being transported.
Snowpack
At valley bottoms is where we found the best snow in specific locations. Overall we experienced a widespread breakable wind skin on the surface roughly 2"-3" thick. On a WNW aspect at 5300' we found the wind skin to be thicker, forming a 6"-10" thick slab that was reactive and found similar structure while skiing a NE facing line. No formal pits were dug but through pole-probes and hand pits we found the surface wind slab to be reactive and structure to be overall fair. Notably we found a 3-4mm thick rain crust ~1ft down on the west face of the Fairangel ridge.