Quick report
- Collapsing
- specific
A couple collapses early on in the week, along with the general poor structure of the snowpack were enough to influence our terrain decisions for the day and subsequent days. With modest incrimental snow loading (~15cm), and an increase in temperatures the upper snowpack seemed to development more slab structure on Monday (2/17). As temperatures stayed mild throughout the week we noticed an increasing hardness in the weak layer as well as an increase in compression test scores. As the week went on, our confidence grew and we stepped out onto bigger terrain, finding some reactivity on recent wind slab.
On Monday (2/17) we experienced multiple whumphs and collapses in the snowpack, propogating for tens of meters. A snowpit in a similar zone (6000' NE) showed fairly large faceted grains 1-2mm on the JDL layer and also produced multiple sudden results on compression tests. Later in the week we also developed a shallow wind slab problem. Observed multiple small slabs breaking 5-15cm on steep slopes near ridgetop.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 25cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Mostly cloudy the whole week with some sun breaks in the clouds. Pretty consitent light to moderate winds mostly from the S and W.
Snowpack
Over the week we got 25cm of new snow. This surface snow was somewhat redistributed by SW winds loading most ridgetops as well as isolated terrain mid slope. The new snow overlays the early feb storms, further topping the JDL facet layer. Below this weak layer is a strong snowpack with few layers of concern.
Avalanche
Reactive wind slabs (5-15cm deep) observed wednesday (2/19) on steep exposure terrain near ridgetop. Some collapsing observed a few days prior on Monday (2/17) along with sudden results on compression tests.