Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Photo below of 1"-4" snowfall rates. We observed new-dry snow avalanches on steeper terrain on all aspects greater than 35° in steepness. In steeper east facing terrain off of Twin Lakes Pass we observed long running new snow avalanches failing on a density change and noted natural dry loose avalanches in north facing terrain around 9,800' in elevation. </p> <p>Today, we traveled as though it was considerable-high danger and stuck to slopes less than 30 ° in steepness. We found great snow on all aspects including south and west facing slopes. The quote for the day was "today was a terrain management day, not a pit digging day" (G. Miller). We dug a few hasty pits but with the stout melt-freeze crust under the newest snow we were looking for new snow instabilities and wind-drifted snow problems. We found instabilities in the newest snow. Where we traveled today we did not notice a significant amount of wind-loading although we would suspect that there were natural avalanches occurring in steeper wind-loaded terrain. We avoided steep north-east facing terrain with a shallow snowpack that may be harboring the old persistent weak layer (PWL) from earlier this season. </p>
We observed a settled new snow depth of 16"-18" out of the wind zone. The old/new snow interface was a stout melt-freeze crust and the layer of concern involved density changes from the newest snow that fell within the last 24 hours. Photos showing increased snowfall rates in the upper Cottonwood Canyons this afternoon. We felt collapsing in the newest snow while skinning that was likely failing on a density change.