Quick report
- Collapsing
- Observed
Initiated a collapse and loud wumf on a north facing slope at 7500'. Failure layer was buried near surface facets.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 32
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 5500'
- Recent Snowfall
- 2
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
A bit of everything for weather today. Cold temperatures with active rime in the morning followed by a period of partly cloudy skies before another fog layer rolled in, this time warmer with some greenhousing. Rain on the drive home below 5500'.
Snowpack
I dug a few pits on north and east facing slopes at 7700' in an area notorious for early season human triggered avalanches. I found snow depths of 2 feet and two primary layers of concern. In the top of the snowpack, there is a layer of buried surface hoar with 3-4 inches of new snow above. In the middle third of the snowpack, an old melt-freeze layer is faceting out. Directly above the crust, I found facets and evidence of an older layer of buried surface hoar. Both layers were unreactive in tests due to the lack of a slab above.
While exiting, I triggered a large collapse and found buried near surface facets with a 1 foot thick, 1 finger slab above. I suspect this proble layer to be more widespread with much of the recent wind slab development sitting on some degree of buried near surface facets.
Low elevations (and the lower half of the mid elevation band) do not have enough snow depth to produce avalanches.