Quick report
My goals today were to continue to monitor the sensitivity and distribution of our wind slab problem, as well as reduce my uncertainty around the concerning structure in places holding old snow. While I found easy travel yesterday off the Mammoth Crest, I found the complete opposite today up Convict. Travel where snow overlayed brush on the ground was arduous. While we blame the wind for our current primary avalanche problem, it can also be a helpful friend. I would pick low-angle travel on a wind-stiffened surface over "trapdoor" brush collapsing any day.
I saw minimal signs of instability from today's travels. I avoided terrain holding a wind-stiffened surface near and above treeline. I found localised cracking in wind-affected features around 9,000'.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 24
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Another beautiful day. Temperatures below freezing, calm winds at the car, and a light breeze from the west as I gained elevation. Snow was rolling down the east-facing slope I was ascending.
Snowpack
30-45" (80-110cm) of settled snow from 12/24 was found in places less affected by the wind. As I gained elevation on an east-facing bowl feature, I found a more consistent 48" (120cm) of snow from 12/24 resting on the ground. While zig-zagging the terrain, I noted increased settlement on solar aspects and a greater height of snow on colder northeast aspects. In a hole on a northeast aspect at 10,100', I found:
- 2-5" (5-15cm) of old snow under ~45" (117cm) of our most recent load.
- This old snow was interrupted by the ground cover in the NE pocket of a bowl feature
- I found hard propagating results in decomposing fragments below a 1F wind-affected slab. Down ~50cm
- I probed from NE to E to SE across the terrain. If the height of snow is greater than 60" (150cm), there is likely more old snow near the ground.
- Stubborn wind slabs were found in the top 8-24" (20-60cm) during my travels