Quick report
We observed no obvious signs of instability or recent avalanches on our ride. Strong over weak snow structure exists, but triggering an avalanche seems unlikely.
Weather
- Air Temp
- -14 to mid-20s F
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
It was mostly clear on Basin Butte with very light or calm winds. I observed snow blowing off high peaks in the Boulders in the late afternoon. Cloud cover increased over Trail Creek Summit and south into the Pioneers. It looked windy there based on the speed of passing clouds.
Snowpack
We dug on multiple aspects as we ascended through low and middle elevations. Near-surface faceting has weakened the upper 30 cm of the snowpack, including the 1/3 crust. The crust was detectable up to about 8,200'. We found very thin, isolated wind slabs near the top of Basin Butte. These did not extend down into start zones.
The snowpack generally grades from F at the top of the slab to 1F or P- at the base. Middle elevation slab thickness ranged from 55-100 cm. Instability tests returned ECTP26 on an ESE @ 8,800'. The weak layer presented as chained 2 mm FC below the 12/13 crust. Facets closer to the ground were moist and rounding.
Tests on a N @ 8,800' where the slab was thicker returned no results, and the weak layer resisted extra hits and prying on the block. The weak layer presented as a thin stripe of ~4F SH and FC. The facets below have gained considerable strength, and much of the lower snowpack was 1F down to a 20 cm layer of 4F moist FC at the ground.
Avalanche
We saw one somewhat recent wind slab avalanche near Vanity Summit below a NE facing, heavily corniced, upper-elevation ridgeline. A small slab avalanche was reported yesterday (Trollan). Photos of that are below. It's easily visible from Smiley Ck.