Quick report
- Collapsing
- isolated
While skiing from Chango Lake Road to Silver Creek I experienced a small whoomph soon after entering tree-sheltered terrain. I decided to dig a pit on a NE aspect at near treeline elevation in that area to investigate. What I found was a very shallow snowpack (50 cm) with very poor quality snow, almost all faceted to some degree. While an ECT returned a result of ECTN15, I think the only reason a fracture did not propagate was because there was no firm slab on top of the faceted layer. I think I must have hit a spot with a firm crust on top of the faceted layer that caused the collapse but I found no evidence of that layer in my snowpit. I do not think this snowpack poses a significant danger currently but it may later on as the shallow depth and cold temps continue to facet snow that could be loaded later in the season. Weather today was mostly clear skies with temperatures in the 20s F, with 6 F at night. Light wind (1-2 mph).