Upper snowpack looking increasingly strong, but warming related slab avalanche from previous day (?) is reason for concern.
Overcast all day with no direct solar input. Temperatures were quite mild, enough to promote significant settling around the compass but not provide ambient melting of shaded aspects.
# | Date | Location | Size | Type | Bed Sfc | Depth | Trigger | Comments | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Frenchman's SW 8,900' |
D2 | SS | 30cm | N-Natural | Ran 1,300', debris had a wet character. | None |
Persistent slab issue in the upper snowpack seems to be limited to solars, as evidenced by recent natural activity described above. On shaded aspects, shovel shear showing dirty shears on a few mid and upper pack weak layers (suspect 12/31, 1/4, and some mid-storm interface). These are unreactive in stability tests (ECTX or ECTN with moderate to hard force). Facets on top of crust near ground continue to point to possibility of seeing very large slides like those seen during the storm, but this interface appears to be gaining strength. Could not initiate fractures on this layer with standard loading steps, CPST cut lenghts in the mid-30s to low 40's. HS =120-130cm on shaded, sheltered middle elevation slopes. 10cm 3-5mm cupped DH, dry but well packed, variable 4F+ to 1F hardness. DH is capped with 5 cm P MFcr, then 5-10cm of 1-3mm FC with a somewhat weaker set of FC in the middle of the layer. This is the layer that produced relatively short critical cut lenghts in CPSTs. Overlying slab is very dense (1F to 1F+ for most of it).
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Persistent Slab |
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Unknown |
Comments: Presence based on recent natural activity |
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Deep Persistent Slab |
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