Observation: Big Springs

Traveled up Big Spring Hollow towards the ridgeline between Shingle Mill and South Cascade. Along the way, we found the weakest surface snow at lower elevations where both surface hoar forming, and near-surface facets were forming just below that. As we gained elevation, the obvious surface hoar and weakening surface conditions subsided and we found more soft powder, dense loose snow, and a bit of wind-drifted snow in terrain features that would allow for snow to catch or drift. Along the way, we noted no obvious signs of instability like cracking, collapsing, or whumfing.

At the Upper Big Springs pit location, we found a poor snowpack structure with weak faceted grains at the ground, but we were unable to get any propagation on any of the faceted layers. While the weak layers still exist, our pit results seem to show that the likelihood of triggering an avalanche is decreasing in this terrain.

Pit profile and image from Lower Big Spring pit.

Pit profile and images from Upper Big Spring Hollow pit location.

The cold clear nights have been working fast in the Provo area. In lower elevation terrain the surface is rapidly weakening with surface hoar and small facets forming just below the surface hoar. As we climbed in elevation, the surface became less faceted and a bit denser. We found great riding at almost all aspects, even in areas that had a small amount of texture on the surface from the wind.