Quick report
Today I set out with the goal of collecting a bit more data from non-avalanche terrain on what the storm delivered than I had found in the backyard trenching in a skintrack at times waist deep on powder skis during the storm. Overnight winds transformed the snow surface into a patchwork of supportive and unsupportive wind slab. Signs of instability were not obvious in the limited terrain I visited, which highlighted my uncertainty about the depth, distribution and sensitivity of the avalanche problem. No shooting cracks, no collapsing, no signs of natural avalanches observed in start zones at the top of the Sherwins (in limited viz), and an absence of dramatic results in the two snowpits I dug. But even with those key signs of instability missing, the snowpack has an unsettling feeling. The winds have made the surface generally much easier to travel over, with ski pen going from 75-100cm yesterday afternoon to 15-20cm on average today, though there are certainly pockets that had less pronounced wind effect and it was easy to fall through the trap door and be knee to thigh deep again. While skis provide float, boot penetration was infinity, I went in up to my waist when I stepped out of my ski on my skin track.
I dug in on a NNE aspect at 8800' at 3:00 pm
- Hs = 145 cm
- top 30 cm = 4 finger over fist hard snow to the ground
- CTM X2 BRK 35 cm from the surface.
One positive thing about the wind is that it has made lower angled slopes much easier to ski on, which is what I'll be skiing on while I wait for the snowpack to adjust.