Quick report
Photos of 1) the thin wind slabs encountered in the alpine, underlain by graupel, 2) the rather impressive glide activity from before the storm, and 3) views were exceptional.
High north should still harbor good skiing for Thursday, other aspects will likely get damp. Moderate tomorrow for wet activity. Given the underlying crusts in many places, seems like wet slides could run farther and perhaps a bit faster than expected.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Found lots of very shallow wind slabs above 9,500', but they were mostly only 2-3" deep. We could get them to break out by walking above the skin track, but never got them to crack out any further than right at your skis. Although we avoided some of the more obvious wind pillows, it seemed that most the wind slabs had settled out by mid-morning, even along exposed ridgelines. Also, the thin wind slabs we encountered were soft, composed mainly of wind deposited graupel, which tend to be softer and less sensitive.</p>
Settled new snow depths of course varied considerably with elevation. Only 1" at 8,000', increasing to around 6" above 10,000', but on average around 4". Lots of graupel, which helped keep you off underlying crusts.