Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Rapid Warming, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2743 m
Went for a mellow tour up Little Willow trees via Willow Heights TH near Solitude Ski Area. During the morning (930am), surface hoar was noticed and had formed from the prior cold, cloudless night on aspects W-N-SE BTL and NTL. Weather conditions throughout day were clear and calm. During our first descent, I arrived in a semi-forested glade and decided to dig a hasty pit to identify the layers within the zone. I conducted a Shovel Shear test and received fracture initiation on STE at the facet layer directly above the ice layer, roughly 27cm from the ground. Below this layer was a generation of strong ice layers, facet layers and melt freeze crusts. During our descent to the TH (1:00pm), we noticed the orginal surface hoar we noted in the morning had grown larger in grain size.