Quick report
- Aspect
- East
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Elevation
- 3139 m
- Slope Angle
- 22°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The bottom 50 cms of the snowpack are weak and faceted. At lower elevations this is most of the snowpack. At higher elevations a 1 finger slab has developed over top of the faceted snow. There are three distinct but contiguous layers of faceted snow at the base, and a buried near surface faceted layer at about 80 cms. Stability tests produced results in the mid 20's, failing on the deepest faceted layer. This suggests that any avalanches triggered will be full depth. Triggering an avalanche at this time is possible but not likely. Significant future snowloads will likely activate this weak layer. </p>
A slightly below average season is shaping up in the Abajo Mountains. Overall snow depths on shady slopes are not that far behind normal. Thin snow cover on south aspects can be attributed to a dry December, as can the faceted base layers. A significant load has not yet been applied to this weak foundation though human triggered avalanches remain possible on steep, northerly aspects. Any significant snow load will create dangerous conditions with full depth avalanches likely.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>See red flag comments above and pit profile below. Pit wall with hand hardness test. </p> <p>Extended column test results ECTP 25. Failure on the basal facets at 29 cm. </p>
Still some soft powder with very little wind effect. Sunny aspects became damp. Coverage on south facing slopes is still very thin ranging from grass sticking out to near bare ground. Shady slopes range in depth from around 2' at 9000' to 3.5' or 110 cms above 10,000'.