Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Highly variable snow conditions as we traversed the ridge. In the shade: surprisingly homogenous, low density fluff. In the sun exposed sections of trail: observed a lot of pinwheels and the snow was quite gloppy, sticking to our snowshoes and slowing us down bigtime. Dug a pit SSW @ 5417'. Depth of snow 75cm. Two distinct 4F layers (45cm and 20cm). STH @ 45cm. Top layer sheared along upper crust relatively cleanly, then quickly re-adhered to the crust (see photo - everything was quite sticky). Isolated and tested two columns: CT17 Q3 @ 75cm | CT12 Q3 @75cm. In both tests, the column collapsed, but did not slide with energy.