Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2713 m
- Slope Angle
- 32°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>I definitley didn't notice as many red flags as I did on Saturday, but I do know there is still plenty of activity out there. I imagine this will be decreasing as the last storm cycle has been given a little time to settle. I looked at all the major peaks that I could while on the top of Toms (Reynolds, Gobblers) and did not see any avalanches, </p>
So I am super bummed, I had several great pictures of the pit I dug today with some detailed shots of the snowpack, however they were on my phone which was kaput when I got home and it just isn't firing up. If I can get them up soon I will. Here is what I saw today. THe snow depth at 8900' with a NE aspect was around 200 cm. The top 30 cm appeared to be the snow we got over the last week or so, for the most part this was fist hardness, but got denser the closer you got to the first weak layer at 30 cm. THis layer was about 5 cm thick. Continuing down I noticed a 4f layer before another thin weak spot. From here there was very stout snow with one thin weak layer, followed by the fauceted snow near the ground. The first test I did was a quick column shovel test. Basically, I isolated a 30 cm column on two sides and pushed my shovel down the backside. I like doing this becasue it gives me a good space to get into to isolate my extended column and it helps confirm some of the weak layers I've identified. The first break I noticed was the weak layer at 100 cm, if this was an ECT this was a Q1 sheer. I contiued to push and the layer at 60 cm down broke. Not a good indication of stability but a good warm up test. My ECT had a break at the layer at 60 cm down on the 29th hit but it did not propigate throughout the column. I was surprised to not get anything so I pounded on it for several more swings but nothing happened.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>There was definitley some wind loading on the east side of the knob at the top of Toms and I imagine this is magnified the higher that you go. The winds from the south and southwest have been pretty constant through the weekend and have wind loaded the North through NE slopes.</p> <p>I dug another pit today and I noticed several week layers throughout the snowpack. All season we have heard about the very weak snow near the ground. This layer was still quite obvious. One of the biggest indication was when I was digging out the pit. For the most part you could take large chunks (slabs) out of the pit, but the bottom 25 cm was like sugar.</p>
From the trailhead at 7300' to the bottom of Tom's Hill at 8200' the snow was crusty, I always do snow checks on my walk and I had a hard time getting my pole through the snow that fell last night. You could tell there was new snow it just didn't feel like the Utah powder we're all used to. However, once I hit the 8200' mark the snow became soft and light. Maybe not the lightest of the year but much better than the wet dense snow of the last few sotrms. I would say there was between 3-5" on top. The yo-yo on Tom's Hill was fantastic, the snow was soft and bouncy. Ran into someone else who helped me collapse my snow pit and he said Reynold's Glades were a lot of fun too.