Quick report
- Aspect
- East
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking
- Elevation
- 3139 m
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Periods of heavy snowfall and strong winds</p>
Photo 1: Walking the ridgeline and stomping on test slopes, I was able to produce a crack that was surprisingly deep and fractured 10 to 15 feet wide.
Photo 2: Quickly dug down next to the crack to look at the layering and hand hardness. The rough layering is plotted on snowpilot above.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I was surprised to find a 10-inch thick 1-finger-hard slab sitting above the weak layer of faceted snow. I'm assuming that the slab formed during the previous days of strong winds. I did not expect that there was enough snow available to be transported but is a good reminder for me that loose faceted surface snow is still capable of being drifted efficiently enough to produce a slab, not just fresh snow. This structure might be confined to just below the leeward side of upper-elevation ridges predominantly facing east and may not exist lower down below ridges or lower elevations. </p>
Bottom feeding ski conditions on all but sheltered north-facing slopes without old tracks.