Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We skinned up Skyline Ridge with some exposed areas gusting to moderate easterly winds, but much of the ridge was calm with trees still coated in snow. We skied a northeast aspect which was sheltered in the trees at 5300ft after doing a quick pit to assess bonding in the new snow layers. In the pit we found 20cm of minimally wind affected surface snow which was well bonded to the slightly heavier underlying layer. There were a few surface hoar crystals at the interface but not enough to weaken the bond. The area we skied had very little wind redistribution in the new snow despite the strong wind event on Nov 30. Skiing only produced tiny amounts of surface sluffing in the few steep rollovers.

Looking over to Tye Peak we saw old raised tracks on the SSE aspect at 5300' on an exposed slope, clearly affected by wind.

Skiing an easterly aspect down from 5300' was moderately windy especially at the ridgeline. The slope itself had not been too affected by the wind, still maintaining an even new coating of 20cm overlying a heavier layer and we found good bonding between the layers there as well.

Surfaces on shady aspects had 1-2mm surface hoar from last night. It was cold, with an air temp of -6C and snow surface temp of -9C. Near surface facets will likely be forming.

Slopes that were due south had only about 5cm of moist snow overlying the November 30 crust at 4900ft. Winds weren't wrapping around to those slopes, and they felt like the tropics after being on the other aspects. The snow had gotten moist yesterday and there were a few very small point releases (Loose wet, just barely) mostly from yesterday's ski tracks. There didn't appear to be any loose wet avalanches today, although a skier pushing snow probably would have been able to cause one.

Overall, in the areas we travelled we were pleasantly surprised to find minimal slab development and good bonding between the new and old snow layers. However wind was noticeable on more exposed slopes and at higher elevations, and I expect that we would have found wind slabs requiring more investigation before committing to ski those areas.