Quick report
- Collapsing
- isolated
I forgot what is was like to put in an honest day of breaking trail, though I did hijack a few sled tracks where I could (Thanks!):
- 2-6 inches of new snow on yesterday's wind stiffened surfaces at all elevations
- This snow fell under calm winds and concealed the usual hallmarks of wind-affected snow
- Identified hard windslabs where my skis rode on top of yesterday's snow surface (2-6 inches deep as opposed to 12 or more inches deep)
- Aside from two collapses, slabs were unreactive in response to my stomping
- Intentionally triggered a small windslab at upper elevation by kicking a wee cornice
- Noticed one other small natural wind slab triggered by cornice fall
- Large column test at 6100', E aspect yeiled unstable results with moderate force
I enjoyed safe solo skiing on low angle slopes.
Media and Avalanche details to follow.
Intentionally triggered a small windslab by stomping a wee cornice along a ridge at 6800'. Cracking and collapsing were mostly under foot. 2 larger collapses at mid elevation on SE aspects. Seemed like collapses were from hard wind slabs on top of less dense storm snow.Weather
- Air Temp
- 17
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 5-15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Intermittent S-1 and graupel. 1-2 inches fell throughout the day. Winds calm gusting to light from the SW. Arctic air and easterly winds did not arrive at this location during daylight hours.
Snowpack
- 5-15 cm of new snow (F) on top of yesterday's wind-stiffened surface (4F-1F). The thickest hard slabs I found were 25 cm. All were stubborn to unreactive. HS = 30 cm @ 4500', 100 cm @ 6000'.
- Pit @ 6100' E aspect: HS = 120 cm, ECTP 19, 20 down 60 cm on rounding facets (0.5) and surface hoar (5-10). CTM17 same layer.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1 R2
- Type
- HS
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- NC
- Elevation
- 6200 ft