On low elevation solars and wind exposed terrain such as in the Boulder foothills we are starting to build a slab around 1ft deep that can propagate on the weak, sugary snow below.
At higher elevation there are weak layers both mid-pack and close to the ground under a stout slab. It is not very likely to trigger have the potential to produce very large avalanches.
Clear, warm and sunny day. Some high clouds came in around noon giving the snow a bit of a break, but dissipated again early afternoon. Snow still nice and cool at higher elevation but getting heavy on solars around 1400.
On low/mid elevs:
Shadies sheltered from wind still soft trap-door slab, ski pen to sage in many places.
Solars and wind stiffened slopes have built a healthy 30cm 1F slab on F FC in this area, on slopes with little to no sage this could start to become an issue.
6800' S HS=70cm
top of pack 10cm of various generations of sun crusts, on 30cm 1F FCxr slab and 30cm well developed FC moist, ECTP21@gnd on very weak, large crystals.
At higher elevation snowpack is deeper and more complex, with a plethora of weak layers from mid-pack and down.
9200' S HS=105cm
105-90 F DF
90-55cm 1F FCxr on 4F FC layers at 55cm
52-25cm 1F FC with a 4F FC layer at 40cm and a more developed one 5cm thick at 30cm.
25cm-gnd large basal FC with subtle layering.
ECTP25@10cm on 3-5mm SH crystals, easily visible in failure layer despite being quite subtle in pit wall. This layer also gave PST35/100end
The other weak layers higher in the pack did not give results on ECT but gave PST:s in the high 30s.
Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
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Layer Depth/Date: 40-100cm, weak snow near ground |
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Layer Depth/Date: 30-40cm Comments: Where sun and/or wind has created a slab on the weak snow on the ground, confined to slopes with little to no sage or other undergrowth. |
Avoided avalanche terrain