Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>There were not a lot of red flags today, but there was definitly evidence of wind loading on the northeast, east and southeast aspects. We crossed some wind loaded areas where the snow depth was 12-15". In one instance, my partner and I jumped on a wind loaded area to see what would happen and the snow immediatly cracked and ran a few feet. The snow is not bonding very well with the old snow and the wind loaded areas will most likely run on the New/Old snow interface. I would let the snow settle out a little before jumping into anything steep on the leeward slopes. Minor Cracking noted, primarily in the wind affected areas but the wind slabs were not very hard.</p>
Nice to have the new snow and it did ski well. We touched bottom a few times, but for the most part we stayed on top. The wind was constant while we were touring and there is most likely a few slabs out there ready to go so pay close attention to the slope aspect as the loading was primarily on the right side of the compass.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The is the biggest issue for the next day or so. The wind was moving snow everywhere.</p>
There was about 3" of new light snow. The snow seemed fairly dry and light, although I have never been too good at determining water content. The snow skied well and was supportable enough to keep us off the hard crust directly below the new snow. Because of the winds, there were areas where the new snow was nowhere to be found. This caused some interesting route finding down the slope. One minute you were skiing fun powder, the next your were skiing ice. You could see evidence of the old snow everywhere. This is typically the case on wind blown ridges, but it was even occuring in areas that are generally protected from the wind. This indicates to me that the new snow is not bonding very well with the old snow. The Northeast face of Patsey Marley was completely wind damaged and probably not much fun to ski.