Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The only red flag I observed was some minimal wind drifting on north and east aspects. In localized areas there is some shallow weak snow near the ground, but I did not observe any slides that broke on this layer.</p>
The North Slope T. H. is starting to look like winter. The Whitney Road is currently being plowed until the middle of December for winter logging.
The snow depth in Whitney Basin varies from a foot and a half to two feet and the snow pack is fairly supportable for riding and turning. Still lots of hidden hazards when you leave the road. Riders are finding good cold snow and the meadows offer fun times.
I was finding some very localized small shallow soft slabs that were a little sensitive to the weight of a person. These did not pose much of a hazard, unless a person was in steep terrain. There was some natural minor shallow soft wind slabs on the top of Double Hill that happened recently. The Whitney area is starting to fill in and look like winter.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The wind drifting this afternoon was fairly limited to the higher exposed ridge lines on slopes that were facing north through northeast.</p> <p>The snow pack appeared to adjust to the added weight from the recent storm. The weak sugary snow near the ground that has been around since October and November on high shady north facing slopes has not seen much activity from what I have observed.</p>
Nice cold low density snow and the recent storm came in right side up, with light snow on top and more medium density underneath to give some support while riding and turning.