Quick report
- Aspect
- Northeast
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing
- Elevation
- 2804 m
- Slope Angle
- 36°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>failures were confined to steep rocky wind loaded areas where 1"-2" of facets on the ground around rock, etc, and cracking would propagate over larger areas, indicating the strength of the slab. Trigger points seemed to be along the edges when pack was thinner, and jumping on fat cornices and loaded areas would produce cracking in upper layers but not much else</p>
We were pleased at the direction this first snow was headed, relatively warm temps have settled and consolidated this layer, and if storms continue to move through, once buried, this first snow should gain even more strength.
no doubt you could trigger a wind slab in the right spot today, and the consequences would be bad. Tumbling down a rocky slope with blocks of snow the size of dishwashers does not qualify as fun in my book. The saving grace is that getting to such a spot would require tenacity and an unrelenting suicidal tendency.
visual clues are everywhere, and a little poking easily identified trouble spots. Overall the hazard is low for avalanche due to the mininal snowpack, and access. while a little risky, we were able to manage turns down lower angle slopes with a little speed and benefiting from fat tools, just keep your mouth shut to avoid getting cone flower heads in your mouth.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>see video for discussion </p> <p>While not huge yet, they would crack behind you </p>
last couple of storms a week apart on Mondays fell mostly on dry ground with the exception of high steep North that harbored snow from earlier in Oct. While temps were cold just after each storm, overall it has been warming during the days and the two storms have consolidated into 25 cm (10'-12") of fairly dense, damp snow. We installed the snow stake at Miller Flat today. The beacon park has not yet been deployed, waiting for enough snow to cover it. Winds have been moderate from the SW with the exception of Nov 10 and 17 with nearly 24 hour periods of NW wind following cold fronts. Looking at the sastrugi patterns, NW wind had little to work with post-frontal and most loading is on N through E in the typical pattern for the Plateau.
Coverage is stark as you would expect with this thin pack, need another couple of feet to really allow travel.