Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
The biggest take-home today was the wide variability in snowpack depths on northeast and northerly aspects. The winds have stripped some exposed snow surfaces, leaving a shallow, faceted snowpack in place. While on adjacent slopes a denser 60 cm slab is on top of the faceted snow near the ground. Stability tests today showed poor structure with strong snow over weak snow, but ECTN.
The recent warmth has helped stiffen the snow surface, but above ~8,500' the facets underneath are very weak.
We noticed two avalanches that likely slid earlier this week. These were reported under avalanche occurrences: Highline and Moonlight. Moonlight is a natural avalanche, but unsure of Highline as there are tracks adjacent to the avalanche so it is possible it was remotely-triggered.
Snowpack
~5 cms dense new snow above 8,500'. Wind drifts formed from wind events the past few days were unreactive to stability tests. HS is very variable, with roughly 60-100 cms between 7,500' and 9,000'