Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3109 m
- Slope Angle
- 30°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The snowpack on the northerly facing slopes show a poor snow pack structure. Sugar snow at the the ground remains loose, weak, and sugary. Steep, upper elevation, north, and northeast facing slopes should be avoided for now. From our travels today, this is the bull's-eye terrain where a person could trigger a slab avalanche. There are plenty of other aspects that can be ridden without the danger of a slab avalanche that fails on the sugar snow at the ground. </p>
Overall the Skyline has a decent snowpack, with average depth of 2-4' feet littered across the range. The slopes that face north remain the biggest concern as they have weak sugar snow at the ground. The good news! as you move to more sunny slopes you loose this sugar snow and the snowpack looks good in terms of stability. The east facing slopes have a very thin layer (1-2") of sugar snow right at the ground. However, this layer on the east facing slopes seems to be gaining strength and not an issue at the moment.
The snowpack is supportable and the riding/travel is easy through the terrain. Of course, it's not open season and rocks and stumps remain the biggest issue with riding. The winds from last Wednesday (December 12th) have certainly taken their toll to the snow surface. Riding is variable, sorta like being on the moon! in some areas there is a stout wind crust and in other areas there is soft supportable riding.