Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2896 m
- Slope Angle
- 22°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Did not observe many of the typical signs of instability both days, despite lots of new snow. The February dirt layer is now burried by about 2 to 3 feet of new snow, which is difficult for a person to trigger outside of thin rocky areas. This is also capped by several strong crusts which help to isolate the poor structure.</p>
This pit was dug towards the NW most end of the Canyon. The pit below was dug not far from the Peak 5 gate.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Facets still compose the lower third of the snowpack. When digging a pit the upper part of the snow feels strong, then you eventually punch through to the old weaker faceted snow and it becomes pretty clear that there is still poor structure. This information would not show up using hand pits or ski cuts. </p> <p>Interestingly, the south facing pit seemed to have weaker snow below the dirt layer which was suprising.</p>
Winds and new dense snow made for difficult trail breaking on Saturday particularly in wind affected areas. On Sunday this new dense snow had become more cohesive and supportable. Temperatures must have dropped a bit overnight Saturday which left a few inches of low density snow over snow from Saturday. This made for good right side up riding conditions.