Quick report
- Red Flags
- Collapsing
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Below about 8800', the snowpack seemed quite solid, perhaps because it has been saturated with rain and then refroze. There isn't much snow at the lower elevations. Above 8800', based on numerous hasty pits, the new snow sat on top of a supportable layer of about 12-18" in thickness, which sat on top of very weak faceted snow that was about 12" in thickness. The weak layer seemed to be virtually everywhere we traveled (northeast through southeast aspects), but we only had two small collapses all day and no visible cracking at all. The collapsing was near some rocks at about 10k. We could see no natural avalanches in the drainage. Total snow depth above 8800' was 30-40".</p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>So, there is a slab on top a persistent weak layer and it seems to be extremely widespread. Low angle terrain with new snow on top of the supportable layer provides good riding conditions, but it seems like travel into steeper terrain is and will continue to be problematic for quite a while. When/if we get a heavy load on top of this snowpack, it seems ready to produce a large avalanche cycle. In the mean time, low angle terrain with enough coverage and nothing steep above is pretty good.</p>
The new snow gradually increased from about 2-3" at the Cardiff parking lot, to about 6-8" of new dense powder at 10k. The new snow was right side up and provided excellent boot top powder for skiing.