Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2530 m
- Slope Angle
- 24°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Triggered two obvious and a few "quiet" collapses between ~7800 and 8100' in elevation in north-facing terrain. Weak snow still lacking a slab to be active.</p>
We found deep new snow, but trail breaking wasn't all that bad since the scenery was fantastic.
The December snow surface is fragile. Here are a couple of examples of it showing signs of instability.
The first indicator was cracking on a cutbank triggered by a sled. The snow below the new snow was very loose and sugary.
I triggered a couple of very small soft slabs on a steep mid-elevation slope that failed on the same sugary interface. They probably would have been bigger if the fresh powder was a bit more cohesive.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The danger of avalanches failing on a PWL will undoubtedly increase as more snow accumulates and is drifted by winds that are advertised to increase in the next couple days.</p>
Excellent powder skiing conditions.