Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The main areas of concern are at the higher elevations below the ridge where wind slab overlies much weaker snow.</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Possible to trigger a wind slab in the higher elevations below the ridge which may also step down into the looser, weaker snow underneath. High consequences. </p>
Almost two weeks with no new snow--it was hard to find the motivation to get out of bed this morning. The main route up Cutler Ridge to the divide did nothing to improve the mood as the snow surface appeared to have been trampled by a stampede of all the four and two-footed inmates of some large metropolitan area zoo. The snow in the lower elevations of the ridge remains faceted and rotten with ample surface hoar in shaded areas. A pole push easily penetrates to the ground. Mid elevations slopes on the ridge sport a healthy crust of varying origins.
Ben Lomond's big E-face is a patchwork of variable conditions including hard wind slab (2-3" thick), winded eroded dense facets, rime crusts, and rotten snow near bushy areas and rocks. The snow depth was about 4-5' and retains its generally poor structure.
The best skiing is in the N-facing trees N of the main ridge at mid-elevations where the snow consists of about 3' of dense facets. This was worth getting out of bed for!