Quick report

Observation: East fork of Bear

Staples & DavisUintas
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Observation photo 1

Quick report

Aspect
West
Red Flags
Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
Elevation
2926 m
Slope Angle
25°
Red Flags Comment
<p>You can check most of the red flags for the Uintas. We had no trouble getting collapsing and cracking. There had to be some slope angle for cracking.</p>

Walking on foot tells me all I need to know - it's very difficult to simple walk the length of a sled BECAUSE there is a soft, cohesive slab that you have to step onto. It supports you weight for a second until your boot punches through to the ground. Crawling is the only way to stay on top. This tells me that there is a slab and a weak layer present. Wind loaded slope likely have a harder slab.

Below is a photo of the snowpit graphed above. Notice the weak layer (Nov/Dec snow) about 10 inches above the ground facets through the bottom half of the snowpack until the layer from mid/late January. Above those weak layers is the slab.

Photos below of cracking/collapsing we observed today.