Quick report
We found 10-15" of new snow that has fallen since the start of the week. This new snow was reactive on small slopes, where we triggered small dry loose slides and storm slabs on wind-sheltered test slopes. The total height of the snowpack was variable where we traveled, with less than 3' of snow in many places—barely covering any large rocks below. At the mouth of the creek, we found a slightly deeper snowpack, where in stability tests we had poor results within the new snow, with no results on a thin layer of weak snow at the bottom of the snowpack.
In Sydney Creek, we saw several small natural dry loose avalanches in very steep craggy terrain. We triggered several small loose snow and storm slabs on test slopes. We drove up the pass at the end of the day and saw several small wind slab and storm slab avalanches below and near Eldorado Bowl (S-SE near 3500')Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 3200
- Recent Snowfall
- 40
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Mostly cloudy skies and light winds. HS 24hr was ~35 cm.
Snowpack
New Snow: On a NW-facing slope at 3200', we found about 40cm of new snow that has fallen since the weekend. Below this new snow, there is a thin drizzle crust, likely from light rain on the night of 02/07. In stability tests, we had a mixed bag of results from ECTP3 to a couple of ECTN results. The upper snowpack was a mix of precip particles and grouple, and was failing within the new snow on the interface between last night's snow and the snow that fell earlier in the week.
Basal Weak Layers: In our snowpit, we did not find a large pile of faceted snow as we have seen in other areas across the forecast area. Rather, we found only a few cm of well-developed facets near the ground, giving no results in stability tests, ECTX, HS 115.
Avalanche
Several D1 dry loose, and storm slabs in steep terrain. We saw one natural wind slab south of Eldorado bowl, failing mid-slope, D1.5.