Snowpack

Observation: Hells Canyon

A AmreinOgden
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Observation photo 1

Quick report

Aspect
North
Red Flags
Cracking, Poor Snowpack Structure
Elevation
2621 m
Slope Angle
28°
Red Flags Comment
<p>Cracking observed on east facing upper elevation test slopes. </p>

Snowpack

Instability Comment
<p>HS on NNE upper elevation slopes was between 100-150cm. At the bottom of the snowpack I found large faceted grains. These facets showed some signs of rounding but were still quite dry and fragile. The problem layer on the ground was well insulated in my pit by a meter+ of hard snow, and was essentially unreactive to propagation tests, however I am unwilling to forget its potentail quite yet. In areas with less HS where these facets are present I believe large avalanches will be possible. Additionally smaller storm or wind slab avalanches could wake this layer up in deeper snowpacks. </p> <p>New snow from recent storms has been transported across the compass from variable wind directions. I observed shallow cracking within this snow on east facing ridgeline slopes. In my test pit I obsereved wind effected snow poorly bonded to older snow beneath. </p>