In north facing terrain the buried weak layers from early december and New Year are buried 2-3' down at mid to high elevation. They give snappy results on stability tests, and I would not be surprised to see some big avalanches on these layers if the right trigger comes along.
Coulds moved in and out, sometimes giving a good view into the Boulders. About 10cm of new snow since yesterday. Wind at high elevations mostly SW, but was swirling around quite a bit.
# | Date | Location | Size | Type | Bed Sfc | Depth | Trigger | Comments | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Lightning pt, Boulders S 10000'ish |
D2 | U | N-Natural | Glassed from Hwy, low confidence in estimations. Looks like cross-loaded feature. |
Wind affected snow from mid elevations and up, even fairly sheltered meadows had a soft wind slab.
8400' ENE HS115
12/7@15cm FC/SH PST25/100(end)
12/31@55cm FC CPST30/100(end)
New storm slab @ 75cm (F - F+) ECTN no results on PST.
Snowpack below 12/31 in various degrees of faceting.
I would say the pit is fairly representative for mid to high elevation sheltered terrain, with a soft wind slab and reactive PWL:s.
On ridgeline wind from S had formed fresh drifts 50cm+ thick on P hard old windbuff with a few cm of soft DF in the interface. Lots of cracking and collapsing, but nothing bigger than a few meters.
Wind slab was present even at low elevations, but on top of a thin, faceted snow pack that was not reactive.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wind Slab |
|
Layer Depth/Date: 1/12, 30-50cm |
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Persistent Slab |
|
Layer Depth/Date: 11/26, 12/7, 12/31 - 30-100cm Comments: Problem is widespread, but sensitivity varies from unreative-reactive with wind loading and specifics of the PWL. I est. reactive in lightly wind loaded terrain open to the sky on N 1/4. |
I avoided avalanche terrain.