Public Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Skied several laps south of the road. Good powder as the snowpack is taking shape for the season. Skied treed, mostly northerly aspects in the low 30 degree range. Settling cones becoming visible at the base of trees. The weather was overcast all day with no precipitation and no wind.

I dug a pit on a N/NE aspect around 7200 ft. Instabilities noted within new storm snow as there is some buried surface hoar and recrystallization crusts. The slab from last week's storms is resting on what I am calling a rime crust sandwich (two rime crusts with a thin layer of facets in between). No test failures noted on solstice rain crust, which was stout and very visible. Which brings us to our stubborn persistent slab problem that, well, continues to persist. I think the overall impression is that our lower and mid snowpack is trending towards strengthening. However, I am concerned about several of these weak layers, especially our infamous facets resting on the old November snow (50ish cm from ground) that continue to produce results in test pits. I did not get any propagation in my ECTs.

Hang in there folks, persistent slab problems take patience. Skiing is great right now