Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Cracking while skiing 30-35* terrain, lots of new snow, and storm slab in very protected areas where the wind was unlikely to have affected the snow. Watched active loading on Easterly slopes at 9,500'. Noted a couple of density changes within the recent storm snow. Hand shears produced very soft barely cohesive slab ~6" down in very protected/non-wind affected snow on density change. Dug a quick pit at the top of Lucky Days, 9,500' ESE down to the MF crust that formed on Tuesday 3/21, ECTP13 down 105cm on this MF, ECTN on all of the density changes in the storm snow. I suspect a similar setup on slopes that have a MF crust from 3/21.</p>
Of note in regards to the Ant Knolls avalanche; I was in snake creek Sunday, 3/19 when there were high winds with the incoming storm that arrived for 3/20. There was very weak FCsf on the surface, along with ~3mm SH all the way up to the ridgelines @ 9,800'-10,000', I noted on ESE-N slopes, but may have been more widespread. I suspect this remained intact and was buried on 3/20 as 3/19 was windy and the wind was not knocking the SH down in this location.