Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading
Our travels today were on the southern aspects. Damp snow with a variety of crusts to 9,500. A few small wet slides were on the southwest aspects down low in Maybird from yesterday. Around 155cm of snow of at 10k on south aspects. ECTN and PST 82/125 End at 55cm on a south aspect at 10k. Light to moderate wind transport going on along the highest ridges from the northwest but not all day.
I have not dug a ton on shady aspects lately but the few I have looked at the past few days, I have found stronger snow than expected. A few ECTN's and CTN's . I'm sure there is plenty of areas out there that you could get a Q1 shear. I assume that you would find this problem in a thin area shady aspect, outside the upper cottonwoods, and maybe on a slope that has already avalanched. As others have said, it is a low probability high consequence persistent slab problem out there right now. There is a lot of spacial variability out there. In my opinion, the southern aspects from where we were today has high strength, moderate to strong structure, and low energy.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>A few small wind slabs a few inches thick out there today on southwest through southeast aspects. </p> <p>We stuck to southerly aspects to avoid the persistent slab problem. I am sure it is out there and I am not jumping onto any aspect other than south for right now. It can be most likely triggered on thinner areas possibly outside the upper Cottonwoods in my opinion.</p>
Variable snow surface conditions with moist snow up to 9,500 on S,SW,SE aspects this morning.