Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Cracking
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>More wind than is ideal, but we will take the snow, especially this time of year. </p>
My first run I did as "light footed" a traverse as I could toward safe zone trees, and did not trigger anything. Second run, I followed the same line, but finished with a hard pushing cut, and triggered a windslab pocket about 8-12" deep, about 14 feet wide, not running too far, but enough to make me think twice about going any higher in elevation, which would certainly be more wind-affected and slabbed up. Intermittent cracking below there, which seemed less predictable than super-sensitive cracking. Not too deep yet; this was mid-storm, so more snow and wind kept building the windslabs throughout the day. Mid-elevations were better than expected, very little bottom contact. Mid-elevation trees, out of the wind, should be excellent tomorrow. I'll give the upper elevation steeps some time to settle out.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>I was only out in the morning. I think the danger was increasing throughout the afternoon, but probably decreasing since the snow stopped. </p>
Wind affected up high (9300'), but still better than expected.