Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Today we went up to Chinook Peak in the Crystal backcountry and passed through Morse Creek basin in the process. There were two main themes for the day, 1) the new snow is not very cohesive and showed good stability throughout the day with only minor sloughing and a few thin wind slabs observed in the usual suspect locations (rocky bands, steep chutes), 2) SE-S-SW aspects had a stout crust underlying the new snow — near ridge lines the snow was not bonding well to this crust and was prone to sloughing, requiring extra care when gaining or dropping into the south-ish cols along the way

We did observe some moderate cornice development isolated to due North aspects — NE and NW aspects were generally cornice free.