Pro Field Report

Basic Information

Observation Date:

December 22, 2020

Submitted:

December 22, 2020

Observer:

SAC - Scott Savage

Zone or Region:

Galena Summit and Eastern Mtns

Location:

roadside obs Hailey-Galena Summit and Soldiers (5900-8700', most aspects)

Recent Avalanches?

None Observed

Cracking?

None Experienced

Collapsing?

None Experienced

I was hoping to glass the mountains for avalanche activity, but the visibility didn't cooperate. The Soldier Mtns foothills and Boulder Mtns south of Cerro Ciento Peak were raked by the wind, looks like fall conditions up there. The weekend heat and rain put a thin crust on all aspects up to at least 8700', but the water did not penetrate more than 1-3cm into the snowpack. The pre-existing weak, faceted layers were not significantly affected (directly) by this weekend's warm temps and rain. At lower and middle elevations in the Galena Summit area, the snow above the weak faceted layer(s) is not that thick or stiff - in areas without wind loading, the snowpack below 8700' in this area is generally lacking a slab.

Advanced Information

Cloud Cover:

Obscured

Temperature:

10-25F

Wind:

Moderate , NW

Gusty NW winds moving snow at middle elevations but did not appear to be loading many slopes below treeline. At 4 PM, there was 1-2" (2-5cm) of snow since Monday night. Temperatures cooling all day and colder as elevation increased.

Shady slopes 8000-8700': 2-5cm low density new snow, then .5-1cm 1F crust, then 15-20cm dry DF, then FC.
Sunny slopes 8000-8700': 2-5 cm low density new snow, then .5-2cm crust, then dry crust+FC+DF matrix of 2-3 crusts in 15 cm span, then 11/17 crust and no change from previous obs.
Lower elevations Prairie Ck-Galena Lodge: 1-2cm new snow on top of ~1cm P crust, dry weak snow beneath.
Soldiers low elevations: 1cm new snow on top of K hard 3 cm crust, then dry FC below.

Roadside obs, no travel in the field and no exposure to avalanche terrain.