Quick report
Toured up Prater Canyon in the northern Salt River Range. There was about 2” of recent snow at the trailhead and about 6” at 9,000’ though the wind had moved it around a bit. We encountered some punchy wind board in exposed areas, but overall, less wind affect than expected.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 10
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Clear, cool, and calm today. Inverted temperatures in the morning. Light ridgetop winds out of the east at 10,000’.
Snowpack
Average snow depths in shaded terrain ranged from ~115cm (3.5ft) at 7,500’ to over 180cm (6ft) at 9,500’. Faceted snow near the ground is generally buried 100-150cm (3-5ft) deep in this area. We dug a pit in a shallow, wind scoured location at 9,900’ to test what was likely the weakest spot we could find. Here, the height of snow was 95cm (3ft) with facets buried ~2.5 ft deep below a hard slab. Our snow pit tests showed high strength, poor structure, and low potential for propagation (ECTX) in this location.
Avalanche
We noticed several very small dry loose sluffs/point releases involving the recent snow. We did not observe any wind slabs today. We also noticed one larger old avalanche underneath a north facing cliff band. The crown was blown in so determining when it slid is difficult. There were many snowmobile tracks in very steep terrain with no avalanche activity.