Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Cracking
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Only saw one minor crack today at low elevations where the wind had built up small slabs. We tried to find any remnant of buried surface hoar to no avail. Dug around 7500' on a N facing slope. HS 12ft plus. No significant weak layers in the top 5 feet. Found some density changes within last week's snow but no prop. One finger hardness for most of that 5 ft. with about 8 to 10 inches of fist/4F on the surface. </p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Stayed well below the wind zone but could hear it howling over towards Cutler. Ogden Peak had high winds today between 1 and 4pm and moderate winds the rest of the day. I imagine wind slabs developed rapidly in higher, exposed elevations.</p> <p>Hard to believe someone could have triggered a persistent slab avalanche today. The pack is deep and compressed, at least in the Rodeo Ridge area. That is not to say there is no chance elsewhere in the Ogden area - between Bountiful Peak, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Monte Cristo, and Ben Lomond the snowpack varies greatly. There may be isolated places where the buried surface hoar and/or NSF remain players but unless we get another big load all at once I don't think we'll see avalanches on these buried weaknesses. </p>
Cooler temps at mid elevation made for fun turning conditions. Lower elevations had about 3" of mashed potatoes on top of either a breakable or very slick crust.