Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2804 m
- Slope Angle
- 20°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Avalanches, cracking, collapsing -- We had it all. By pulling out the shovel for some easy digging, it was easy to identify the poor structure causing these red flags.</p>
A look at the structure in the treeline in a more protected zone. Here, we are missing the stiff slab on top of our structure, but the weak layers are easily identifiable and present as gray and dirty down near the ground.
Effects of the winds are evident on the ridge here with cornices. As well as in the second photo, with the winds stripping on the right side of the photo and loading on the left or leeward side of the slope. This snow loaded the persistent weak layer, and we were able to trigger it from a distance.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Our persistent weak layer is now buried beneath 1-2' of snow in most places and up to 4' in places in wind-drifted areas. Recent avalanches have been remotely triggered from a distance. This is a huge red flag and tells me we could be triggering things from below, above, or adjacent slopes and even get lured into thinking tracks on a slope, meaning it's safe. Today's avalanches that failed on our PWL were in areas that had seen significant wind loading and can be found <a href="https://utahavalanchecenter.org/observations">here</a>. </p>
We received an additional 6-12" last night and and it was capped in the last few hours of the storm by some light-density snow. Skiing conditions were fantastic where the snowpack has supportable structure in protected terrain and out of the windzone.