Quick report
- Aspect
- West
- Red Flags
- Recent Avalanches, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3078 m
- Slope Angle
- 25°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>There is considerable wind loading on northerly aspects across the La Sals. The recent snow on top of very weak and mostly faceted snow in many areas has created an upside down, reactive snow pack. We had an ECTP 13 test fail on a very clear shear plane without much effort (see video). This failure was just on facets underneath the surface crust that formed during our dry period in Feb-early march. The snow was punchy below ~9000' due to the lack of hard freezes and warm day temps, but we did not see any signs of rapid warming in the snow like roller balls or pin wheels. There were just enough clouds today to keep the sun from really warming up the snow too much.</p>
Our ECT test that failed on facets underneath the surface crust that formed before our surprise 10" storm in early March (I think?). At first I though it was surface hoar due to the large somewhat elongated look of the crystals, but further investigation revealed they were under the crust. The snowpit was quite complicated...
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The wind has created many new wind slabs and loaded our weak snowpack. The winds did not taper much today, and until they do, risks of wind slab avalanches will exist.</p> <p>Many parts of the La Sals have very weak snowpack that is currently upside down with the last two storms and strong winds. The facets that make up much of the snowpack and some of the surface crusts were reactive in our snow pit today, and are likely to be concerns for a while.</p>
Most areas had a relatively hard crust underneath 1-3" of softer snow from the last storm. At lower elevations the snow was quite punchy due to the high temperatures. The snow is quite variable right now, but I was surprised by how much snow we still have after our dry Feb-early March.