Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Heavy Snowfall, Cracking, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2256 m
- Slope Angle
- 18°
Went up to Cardiff Fork just to investigate the new snow, had no intention of skiing or traveling below any steep slopes and consequently did not make it very far. However, it was nice to walk in some deep snow.
I dug a snowpit on a NW facing slope at 7430' and found the height of snow to be 185cm. New snow from 2/12/21 stacked up around 80cm and seemed fairly right-side-up, however it was bonding poorly to the old snow interface (see video) and within the new snow at the 2/15 storm-break (see test results in SnowPilot graph). There were multiple layers below the new snow with large jumps in layer hardness, making for a fairly complicated snowpack (see photo 1).
While the main concern for today was new snow instabilities, facets near the ground are still a major worry. Photo 2 shows large faceted grains that lurk deep below the snow surface. I think it's fair to say the PWL problem has now turned into a Deep PWL problem, which scares me even more. While it may be harder to get this layer to react after the recent storm, all it takes is a shallower trigger point for this dragon to wake up with a fiery vengeance.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>New snow was not well bonded to the new/old snow interface. Saw lots of loose-snow slides in steep terrain as well as glimpses of massive storm-slab crown lines when clouds broke to allow visibility. </p> <p>Facets at the ground are still a major concern despite being buried deep after this new snow. If one does find a trigger point to activate this layer, the resulting slide will likely not be survivable.</p>
Lots of cracking within the new snow when walking off trail.