Quick report
- Aspect
- North
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 2926 m
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The persistent slab is the main concern because it's the classic low probability with high consequences. The snowpack has a lot of variability from place to place and now that everything is covered up, it's impossible to untangle without a detailed geographic history. So the uncertainty circle on the probability-consequence diagram is quite large. The thin snowpack areas have worse stability tests and in the deeper snowpacks, the stability is much better. I was getting compression tests of about 25 (hard taps from the shoulder) and in the shallower snowpack areas it's about 15-20 (medium taps from the elbow). I would still avoid all the steep, rocky slopes, especially ones with a thin snowpack combined with lots of wind loading during the December 21-22 storm. Good luck figuring out which those are now that everything is covered up--generally above about 9,500' on northwest, north, northeast and east facing slopes. </p> <p>The new snow is so light that it doesn't take much wind to transport it to the lee slopes. The wind slabs are mostly quite soft but definitely cracking and sensitive on steeper slopes. The wind looks like it's popping up again tonight, so expect more wind slabs along the ridges again tomorrow.</p>
Ah, one of the best days of the year, yet again, with a couple storms of light powder about shin deep now and you sink into your knees or farther if you step out of your skis. It's amazing how much new snow we've gotten in the past few days--all extremely light powder.