Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The snowpack structure is somewhat upside right now, with denser snow on top of some early season weak sugary snow near the ground. This denser snow however has not formed much of a slab so the hazard is generally quite low. </p>
1. There is just enough snow on the highway for some riders wanting to get out and dust off the machine.
2. A few riders were out in the Gold Hill area, but they were staying on roads and being quite careful.
3. The south facing terrain is still quite thin and needs a few more storms.
At the base of Gold Hill where many riders like to climb the coverage looks ok, but lots of hazards are just barely covered. I think this would prevent folks from getting into trouble higher up on the slope where the hazard is a little more elevated.
A quick pit on some of the east facing terrain and not much in the way of a slab. Some early season weak sugary snow near the ground and my compression tests just smashed the column and no fracture.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I checked normal caution with the thought being the terrain and early season snow cover is the limiting factor preventing people from getting into the higher areas. </p>
A few inches new from a couple days ago and the coverage I think is a bit better than this time last year? 12-16" seems to be the average out in the Gold Hill area today. You can find some places that are a bit deeper, but generally a foot and a half, but it is early season conditions. Not much of a base to speak of and it is basically riding and turning on the ground.