Quick report
It's been a really nice change to have winter back! It was a lovely day, with pleasant snow conditions. Even with all the recent snow, we didn't find much for widespread instability on most terrain. We did experience some minor cracking in wind drifted snow, and dry loose avalanches were easy to initiate. The sun warmed southern aspects quickly, and we observed a few natural and triggered wet loose avalanches. With over 2ft of recent snow, wind, and subtle signs of instability, we still stuck to sheltered slopes.
We observed and triggered a few D1-1.5 dry, loose avalanches from steep north-facing couloirs. As the sun warmed snow on southern aspects we observed a few small skier triggered wet loose avalanches.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 24cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
It was snowing heavily in the morning when we arrived at the parking lot, but that quickly tapered off. Winds were light, with occasionally moderate gusts, and temperatures were in the mid-20°F. The most surprising weather factor of the day was the sun, which made long appearances in between scattered clouds.
Snowpack
Snow Surface Summary
Plenty of soft snow out there today. Northern aspects hold cold, low-density soft snow at all elevations. Although the crust was still present below the fresh snow at lower elevations in forested areas. Southern aspects started out as cold, dry snow, but quickly warmed with the sun and became heavy and wet. There are lots of obstacles lurking under the recent snow.
Snow Pack Summary
50-70cm of recent snow rests over a melt freeze crust buried on 3/5. This crust is moist, with some moist snow above it. On southern aspects, this crust sits barely above the older complex of crusts from 2/8 and 2/7. There is weak, moist, faceted snow between these two crusts buried about 80cm deep. Snowpack tests showed stubborn results on a few storm interfaces.
Snow Profile
5800ft, SE aspect
HS 185
↓24cm 3/10 interface
↓43cm 3/8 interface
↓51cm 3/5 melt-freeze crust
↓67cm 2/8 melt-freeze crust
↓81cm faceted snow
↓91cm 2/7 melt-freeze crust
Snowpack Test Results
ECTN13 ↓24
CTM RP ↓24