Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
Calm and cold morning yesterday, cloudless. Small hand pit on N-NE facing slope 10,300'. Surface crust is no longer supportable, pencil-/1f+. Mid-pack crust remains 1f-/4f+. Removed from pit wall are fist facets.
The high-altitude summits are capped in ice/rime, devoid of transportable snow, and terrible to ski.
In the more sheltered and loaded apron/entrance to Little Chute in Ballroom, there was a 6-12" soft slab atop the mid-pack crust which would fail easy/medium on facets atop the crust. Seems like foreshadowing of things to come. In areas with a stronger mid-pack crust, wind/storm slab may fail here before stepping down into facets at ground.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Basilar facets/depth hoar, with faceting of mid-pack crusts, facets atop the mid-pack crust, and surface hoar.</p>