Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Toured from pass-level to ~5600' on primarily W and S aspects in terrain exceeding 35 degrees at upper elevations.

Wet snow at the car dampened expectation, but expectations rose with deeper, dryer snow at higher elevations. Alas, skiing was largely heavy, sticky, and cautious. Fresh wax recommended. Due to the snow conditions and lack of views, we cut our day short and returned to the car around 1.

Overcast skies, disk of the sun occasionally visible. Signs of W/SW wind were evident from recent riming and cornices. Calm winds as we toured, increasing enough to drop tree-bombs by noon. On the return to Seattle, liquid rain showers were encountered above Exit 47.

Instability was limited, no avalanches seen, despite tree-bombs evident rolling down many steep slopes. Test slopes below 4500' were largely unresponsive. Above 5000', especially in wind-affected terrain, skintrack corners began to release clearly. The snow overlying the 12/9 crust was more cohesive than expected -- a slab is there, but the weak layers weren't quite weak-enough, where we traveled, to propagate.

-- Hagedorn