Quick report
- Aspect
- East
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading
- Elevation
- 2774 m
Overall I was finding conditions more stable than expected given how much wind-drifting was occurring. Other than some minor cracking in fresh wind drifts in the morning, most wind slabs were unreactive. The new snow and wind drifts were well-bonded to the old snow surface, and I only noticed graupel within the storm snow, but other observations from today mentioned graupel was acting as a weak layer.
In the photo below, you can clearly see the March 1 "Dust Crust" from the strong pre-frontal winds and we'll see this layer for the rest of the winter. I was getting clean shears in a thin layer of decomposing fragments just below the dust layer, but pit scores were poor-quality ECTN that crumbled in the storm snow. I do not expect this layer below the dust crust to be a problem going forward.
Many exposed slopes facing southwest were scoured from strong pre-frontal winds Friday and Saturday.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I was getting cracking in fresh wind drifts in the morning, but even though drifting continued into the afternoon, the wind drifts became less reactive and wouldn't crack. The sustained winds created drifts primarily on slopes with an easterly aspect, but there was plenty of cross-loading so drifts could be found on any aspect.</p> <p> </p> <p>The winds were erratic at times, and some slopes had scouring down to an old, frozen crust while a short distance away there would be a 30-45 cm thick fresh wind slab, so it was difficult to find a pattern other than slopes facing north through southeast seemed to have the majority of wind-loading.</p> <p> </p> <p>With winds forecasted to remain moderate to strong, the problem will persist.</p>
Widespread wind-affected snow with slopes that were scoured or drifted. Non wind-affected slopes had ~30 cms of dense storm snow with some graupel mixed in.