Quick report
While the storm felt intense, accumulation of snow did not seem rapid as most of the snow was blowing around. We skiied and snowmobiled mostly northerly aspects with no cracking or signs of instability. Riding conditions were tough as the snow was dense and not very deep. The snowpack was supportable for skiing and snowmobiling. It could be hard to keep the snowmobile on edge.
We rode some terrain around 35 degrees with no signs of instability. This could have been due to the lack of accumulation caused by the wind. The few signs of instability observed were in the pit results.Weather
- Air Temp
- 27
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- intense
- Recent Snowfall
- 17
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
The visibility was obscured for most of the day due to the strong to extreme winds and moderate snowfall. Breaks in the wind would allow you to see into higher terrain but these were very few and brief. Winds increased throughout the day. We felt a gust of wind while on the ridge that could have been in the 80-100 mph range. One blew a backpack down the ridge. There were wind tails and wind features in the trees. A wind textured surface painted most of the terrain unless very protected. Wind filled our tracks in after 20 minutes. Temperatures were below freezing and estimated to be around 27 degrees. At 11 am we had 17 cm and when we were leaving at 330 pm we had 25 cm. The accumulation was so variable due to the intense winds it was hard to tell how much snow was accumulating.
Snowpack
The snow was a dense and rhimed and did not accumulate as quickly as I would have thought(probably due to it being blown around). On a North Ridge at 8800ft, we dug into the snow below a 1F hard wind slab. Our results: CT11 down 20 cm and CT5 down 23 cm from the surface, ECTN12. Just as we were about to perform another ECT the huge gust of wind blew my backpack down the ridge and we figured it was time to go. A few mitt pits at varying elevations targeted the new snow: dense snow in protected terrain and below the wind effected snow up higher. The shear quality was clean but it took a moderate amount of strength to get it to slide. We observed avalanche terrain but saw no signs of avalanches. We could not see the start of the path.
Avalanche
We observed avalanche terrain but saw no signs of recent avalanches. We could not see the start of the path.