Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Rapid Warming, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The winds helped keep the snow suface a little cooler than if they hadn't been blowing. South faces were wet but not sloppy at elevations above 10,000ft. I saw one recent (probably from 3/12) wet slide on a steep south facing slope at about 11,000ft. I didn't get a great look but, by the looks of the dirty debris, it seemed to have gone to the ground.</p>
Traveled from 10,000-11,000+ft, all aspects, slope angles to 38 degrees. A lot of recent wind in the alpine terrain has left a lot of the upper elevation slopes pretty wind-jacked. Sheltered north facing terrain was still holding dense, creamy, soft snow. Snow was damp on all aspects. North facing slopes were dry above 10,500ft.
Pit on NW facing slope about 10,500ft. HS 61in. (154cm). CT18Q2 on needles about 11 in. (27cm) down in the pack. ECT38 SDN Q2 on small grained facets about 19in. (47cm) down in the pack. It took some force but fracture propagated across column in my ECT test.
Pit on a SW facing slope at 10,300 ft. HS 48"(123 cm). CT12Q2 on large grain facets about 19" (47 cm) down in the pack. ECT12SPQ1 - failed in the same place as CT. Very weak structure with little effort to propagate a fracture. The top 19" are a combination of melt-freeze crust/facet sandwiches sitting on large grain rounding facets to the ground.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>With warm temps and light refreezes overnight south facing slopes should be approached with caution. South facing slopes have poor structure and pit test results show propensity for shear propagation. Trend for the next few days should be increasing based on forecasted temps.</p> <p>Pit test results on both north and south facing slopes reflected a propensity to shear. Same to decreasing danger.</p>
Variable snow surfaces encountered during the day. Melt-freeze crusts on solar aspects, wind-jack in exposed terrain, settled, dry, dense snow on sheltered north facing slopes, damp snow on all aspects below about 10,500 ft.