Ugly surface hoar layer is there on W-N-E aspects above about 7300'; check out an Instagram video post at https://tinyurl.com/yx7yk44h. On sunnier aspects and slopes below about 7300', there are weak facets in the snowpack but minimal surface hoar. Any slopes with the surface hoar layer are suspect if they have stiffer wind-blown snow in the upper 8" (20cm) of the snowpack. Slopes that are more sheltered from the wind have a very soft and weak - but stable (for now) - snowpack.
1-2cm of new snow past 48 hrs. Low cloud deck around 9000-10000' was intermittently moving through but mainly staying in the western Smokys and higher peaks of the Soldiers.
# | Date | Location | Size | Type | Bed Sfc | Depth | Trigger | Comments | Photo |
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1 |
Salt Bowns Rd before the corrals - frequent runner NE 7900 |
D1.5 | SS | O-Old Snow | blown in, unknown | U-Unknown | Most likely a natural that ran last Friday or Saturday. Debris was blown over, but it ran over the road. |
7300-7900' on shady and partially shady slopes: about 60cm (2 feet) deep, 12/7 SH layer 45cm down (layer of concern), 12/11 SH about 30cm down, some wind slab in upper 20cm of snowpack. Non-standard CT results: failed on isolation x 2, Q1/sudden planar...3 light taps with hand, Q1/sudden planar.
Shady below 7300': weak, soft (almost all 4F and F) snowpack less than 40cm deep. Plenty of facets, but no SH. Facets near the ground are large (2-3mm) in places but are moist for the most part. Not much of a slab, so no tests performed.
SE-S-SW: thinner than shady slopes at middle elevations, FC at 12/7 and 12/11 (hard to see) instead of SH, some crusts. Mostly burned off to sage and dirt below about 6800'. No tests performed.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Persistent Slab |
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Layer Depth/Date: 30-45cm from top (12/7 SH) Comments: Estimating sensitivity at reactive in the specific terrain I colored where wind-loaded with P or 1F layer during Dec 13 storm, probably unreactive where not wind-affected above 12/7 layer. |
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Persistent Slab |
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Layer Depth/Date: 12/7, 12/11 FC Comments: FC with some crusts on the solar aspects. No slab above them yet where I was, so not a significant concern for now. However, this could be an issue when loaded in the future. |
Solo mission, so I was just riding out a road and poking around on different aspects and elevations on the way up and down. I was not in any starting zones.