Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
Started the day at Solitude and made my way up to USA Bowl. The snow in the trees was about 2' deep and right side up. It was F hardness on top and progressively became 4F as it neared the ground. The snow pack in the main bowl was a different story. On most southerly slopes there was a small wind slab (formed yesterday) resting on low density powder. The worrisome part was that the slabs were hard to identify. The wind slabs were being scoured by today's SW winds, so they were visually masked and appeared as safe snow. I eliminated my exposure to this hazard by staying on slopes less than 30 degrees and enjoying the wind protected powder in the trees.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Strong SW winds were drifting snow onto the already wind loaded South Monitor. The northerly winds from yesterday seemed to have created wind slabs on the south facing slopes as well. The wind slabs on the south facing slopes were only about 2-4" and not reactive in snow pits or on test slopes.</p>