Quick report
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Poor Snowpack Structure
Field work today focused on comparing the snowpack on northerly slopes at different elevations:
1. North-facing slope at 9,700' HS (height of snow) 165 cms. ECTX (no fracture), but we did get a propagation in the layer of facets down 125 cms when we *kicked* the shovel after 30 taps.
2. North-facing slope at 9,100' HS (120 cms). ECTP19 down 75 cms in a layer of facets.
In the video below, my field partner Mark Johnston and I discuss how it may be getting harder to trigger an avalanche failing in the facets where the slab on top of the facets is stronger and deeper, but in areas where the slab is thinner, it is more likely. We found widespread spatial variability in the depth of the snowpack between 8,000' - 9,700', so this becomes a tricky setup as a slope may have a deeper slab in one location (where it is harder to trigger an avalanche) while having a thinner slab in another location (sometimes not too far apart!) where you are more likely to trigger an avalanche.
Additional Photos:
- Working in a 165 cm snowpit
- Upper Little Cottonwood slide paths are filling in
- Some old slides in Maybird Gulch that have been filled in
- NE winds off of the highest peaks of the Little Cottonwood ridgeline
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Poor structure is still evident, but the snowpack is slowly gaining strength, especially in areas where it is deeper.</p>
Cold, dry snow with a very thin (< 1 mm) rime crust underneath the 5-10 cms of storm snow from the past 24 hours.
Keep an eye out for radiation recrystallization on sunny aspects: South-facing slopes took on sun today, but with cold temperatures, a thin crust may have formed 5-10 mm underneath the snow surface, with a thin layer of faceted snow at the surface.