Snowpack

Observation: Murdock Peak

BrackelsbergSalt Lake
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Observation photo 1

Quick report

Aspect
Northeast
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking, Collapsing, Poor Snowpack Structure
Elevation
2621 m
Slope Angle
28°
Red Flags Comment
<p>The strong winds produced very senstive wind slabs with significant cracking and collapsing. Cracks were propagating long distances. The wind continued to blow hard through the morning transporting a significant amount of the new snow.</p>

The facet layer below the 10 Oct snow was very sensitive to our stability tests with a CT4 and ECTP11.

Snowpack

Instability Comment
<p>I was curious to see an area that had a very small amount of early season snow and to see how this compared to some nearby areas that had more early season snow. This location did not have the <a href="https://utahavalanchecenter.org/observation/63509">same multiple crust/facet layers as I found on Satruday</a>. There was a significant and reactive facet layer that easily failed on stability tests.</p> <p>The wind continued to blow hard through the morning. With the amount of snow being transported I would expect sensitive wind slabs and cornices to keep growing. The wind slabs we encountered were 4F in hardness but produced significant cracking and collapsing.</p>