Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Elevation
- 3200 m
- Slope Angle
- 33°
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I jumped on a few obvious drifts but couldn't really get them to do anything more than crack out around my skis. I was curious how some of the buried near surface facets that I have found recently in the Brighton perimeter were looking relative to any load. I really wanted to find an area with really weak snow and some obvious wind loading, so I dug just under Sunset Peak on a due north facing aspect at 10,500'. This area often has a weak snowpack due to wind scouring and its due north aspect. I found an approximately 8" slab of 1 finger snow sitting above a couple inches of moderately weak NSF. I could get full propagation and clean shears in stability tests. However, this was near a small subridge that was getting some loading. In nearby areas, the slab was only about 4-5 inches thick. When I tried to ski cut the same drift I dug in, I could not get it to move. With a bit more load, and a more continuous slab, I could easily see a few decent size wind slabs popping out tomorrow. However, they should be limited to the usual places.</p>
New snow since late last week (Friday) has added up to anywhere from 4-8 inches, depending on wind. Snow is quite dense, with minimal ski penetration in a lot of places. That said, it skis pretty well.