Quick report
A great day to travel to upper elevations and bigger, open terrain. No immediate concerns in the snowpack. Observations centered on the range of variable surfaces and the timing of surface crusts softening on sun-exposed SE-SW.
No signs of instabilityWeather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
A clear, calm day. A very cold start at low elevations with cold temperatures in the valleys and drainages, under temperature inversions. Even above inversions at upper elevations, exposure to the sun was the primary factor in whether surfaces warmed enough to melt or not. East wind increased after 12p, becoming consistently light on a 6,000ft ridge.
Snowpack
We saw a wide variety of snow surfaces:
The surfaces of shaded slopes and those on the northern half of the compass are very weak. Near-surface facets were most prevalent. Our travel on these slopes was limited. Surface hoar was common but limited to open valleys and drainages. Where it persisted, it was very large (2-3cm).
On sun-exposed SE-SW, the surface crust was 4cm thick and mostly supportive to skis. On steep slopes from 4,500-6,000ft, the surface softened but didn't break down entirely. Near rocks and small trees, I found isolated weaker areas that seemed like they could become punchy with more warming. SE was softening by 11a, and due S was perfect corn conditions at 12:45p. Low-angle and partially shaded SE-SW slopes held thinner more breakable crusts, which didn't soften.
A profile on Jove, S, 5,000ft:
0-4cm: P+ hard, crust
The top 20cm consisted of a matrix of at least 3 crusts and weak layers. The lower of these would be the 1/10 layer with underlying crust.
↓35-50cm: P hard, rounds
↓50-70cm: P= hard, rounds
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Type
- WL
- Aspect
- S
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 5700 ft
A few older wet loose avalanches, likely from Jan 14-15th.