Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>The wind loading I observed was mainly on high elevation terrain and from a northeast direction. This was easily spotted from the highway while driving to the trailhead. </p>
1. The northeast winds were clearly visible from a distance and not a typical wind direction. 2. No recent avalanche activity other than this very small shallow wind slab off the Double Hill Ridgeline that ran a short distance.
The fresh wind slabs were soft and not very sensitive and would only break and create some manageable sluffs. This was on a northeast aspect. The second photo is on a high southeast facing slope. The strong south and southwest winds througout the past storm has stripped away much of the snow and created a shallow and very weak snowpack structure. The new snow that was getting it's first look at strong sunshine was starting to form a slab. This slab is on top of some very weak snow at the ground. Classic, "strong snow on weak snow". Could be an issue as riders might look for some sunny slopes to ride
My field partner showing how it is done. Some pretty amazing conditions out there and have not seen the Uintas so white in quite some time.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Dug a handful of shallow pits looking for any buried surface hoar and near surface faceted snow. I was able to find some surface hoar that was lying down in a couple of snow pits, but this layer was not very reactive with stability tests. I may have been a little too high in elevation to find good preserved surface hoar. Looking at Craig Gordon's report from Wolf Creek Pass, it is out there in the right location and may have surprised some folks. </p> <p>The wind slabs today were of the soft variety, some a foot or more deep, but did not seem to pose much issue when stomped on. These would sluff and entrain mostly the loose surface snow. </p>
The storm snow has settled out nicely allowing for awesome riding and turning in cold light density snow.