Quick report
We set out to look at solar aspects ahead of rising temperatures forecast for the coming days.
- We saw no signs of instability beyond a few small rollerballs. We saw no new avalanches.
- The upper snowpack on solar aspects has already gotten wet in the top few inches. Below that there is dry snow with several hard crusts underneath.
- We spent time thinking about some of the big cornices hanging over slopes that have persistent weak layers.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Near and Above Freezing
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- light
Cold north winds increased with elevation and were stripping the tops of ridges. They were calm on solar aspects near and below treeline where it felt notably warmer.
Snowpack
Surfaces on solar aspects near and below treeline thawed midday. We saw small fans on natural rollerballs on a southeast-facing near treeline slope in the afternoon.
Wind slabs from the past few days were unreactive on north and northeast aspects near treeline.
See snow profile for the structure on a south aspect at 9800 feet.
Cornices hang over northerly and easterly slopes that we know have the persistent slab structure (in many cases, you can tell by the large persistent slab avalanche crowns on the slopes below). There is a concern for the roots of these cornices--at the tops of south to southwest-facing slopes--to weaken if temperatures rise as forecast in the coming days.