Quick report
We traveled in the "Goldilocks" zone, where snow depths near treeline were around one meter. Despite a quiet snowpack underfoot, we found an unnerving snowpack structure and unstable test results. This kept us out of the starting zones in Climax Chutes. Once we got below about 10,500', we felt comfortable riding in steep terrain: the snowpack was much thinner, cohesionless and faceted, with some minor sluffing.
No signs of instability underfoot.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
I could see some blowing snow from northerly winds in the alpine around Yule Pass this morning. No transport where we were.
Snowpack
At 11,200', just above the main Climax Chute, soft slabs are starting to facet. On an ENE aspect, they're 55cm thick, up to 4F+ near the bottom of the slab, over a fist-hard December dryspell layer. ECTP17 results. See profile for details.