Observation: NWAC Observer

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Weather Summary

Light snowfall tapered by the evening. Winds were generally light and variable.

Avalanche Observation Comments:

We found evidence of small avalanches that occured mid storm on steep slopes. These were generally 5-10 cms deep. They all seemed to have occured while precipiation intensity was at the highest last night and this morning.

Snowpack Observations

We toured to Kendall Knob, and found great storm skiing. Approximatly 30 inches of new snow sits on top of the more settled older snow. Within the new snow, we found some grapple at the surface, and a mid storm density break down from the surface about 10 cms.

Small test slopes and skintrack tests showed that the instability that existed in the snow earlier in the day was resolving very quickly. We could trigger very small dry loose avalanches in the top 10 cms of snow, but could not trigger storm slabs on our test slopes. Evidence of old storm slabs was present on steep slopes we traveled around.