Steamboat & Flat Tops

Light west winds, clear skies, and temperatures in the low-twenties. No new snow.

I found 20-40cm of new snow that fell over the weekend above 10,000 feet on Soda Mountain. On the northern half of the compass, the surface was faceting and small surface hoar I noted in the morning prevailed throughout the day, something of note if it remains and grows prior to the next storm. Below the new snow was a thin crust that developed during the Christmas rain event. Depending on aspect this crust was knife to 4-finger hard (already mostly broken down). Where firmer I saw non-propagating fractures in extended column tests on this layer with moderate to hard taps. My greatest concern in the snowpack here is on north and northeast aspects observed where there is faceted snow between two crusts that formed earlier in December, and are now buried up to 60cm deep. I was only able to cause non-propagating fractures at the layer with hard taps in extended column tests, but the structure is concerning, and with a large load could prove problematic. The lower of these crusts is still an ice lens on all aspects observed, and I didn’t see fractures in snowpack instability tests below this layer. In a snowpit dug on a northwest slope I couldn’t even cut through it with my ECT cord.