Quick report
Very nice day out with great visibility into surrounding terrain. A soft crust was present on the snow almost anywhere it had been exposed to the sun the day before. In the shade, dry snow existed. Surface hoar was also seen and surviving in shaded and sheltered areas. Distribution was not widespread and where the sun hit it, it melted down. No new slab avalanches seen in observed terrain. Other than that spooky persistent avalanche problem out their somewhere, it was a pretty quiet day out in the back country.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 40s
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
It was a sunny warm day out there, besides being underneath a down wind lenticular cloud in are local bubble for a few hours late morning and some high clouds in the morning. Winds were light southerly.
Snowpack
Soft 3-5 cm crust present on aspects facing the sun. Wet snow on solars in the afternoon. Dry snow present in the shade of northerly terrain. Boot penetration average was 20-30 cm, but over 30 cm on moist sun affected aspects. Dug a pit on a ENE aspect at 5000 ft with a total snow height of 175 inch/445 cm targeting the PWL. In this location, the 2/7 crust and thin crust were roughly 150/160 cm deep. By pulling the snow column with my shovel I was able to identify several interfaces at 30 cm and 60 cm, and the weakness above the thin crust down about 145cm. All shovel shears were RP. Despite identifying these layers, there were no CT test results in this pit. Rounding grains were found on the weakness above the thin crust layer. About 9 days ago, had a moderate CT result RP in the same area on this weak layer.
Avalanche
Scattered slab avalanches occured during or at the end of the last snowfall Friday 2/27 and there were many triggered by warming temperatures and wet loose Saturday and Sunday. Several smaller human triggered slabs from Saturday 2/28. The very large D2.5-3 on video peak from Saturday. No new slab avalanches today in visible terrain. Numerous wet loose up to D2 in size from Saturday and Sunday throughout the area; none new from today.