Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
All obs from N facing, middle elevation band terrain. New snow was heavy and created a dense slab above the older snow. Numerous shovel shear tests failed on isolation and with light pressure (STV/STE). Failure occurred 30cm down (HN30cm). Despite these alarming results the slab was not very cohesive and did not propagate in additional tests. I think this was due to the comparatively less amount of snow the PC Ridgeline received. The new weight didn't quite tip the scales as I thought it would today. The snowpack was silent and foreboding--we'll see what happens with more water on the way.
I rated the danger as considerable because although I didn't observe any avalanches or significant cracking/collapsing, there is poor structure near the top of the snowpack as well as the old PWL.