Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

We hiked up into Bullion Basin by Crystal Mountain on the morning of Sunday 12/20/20. It had rained during the night and we were left with a prominent rain crust on top of the preexisting moist snowpack. We dug a pit on a 27 degree west facing slope of East peak at about 5200 feet. We found a fairly consolidated snowpack down to ~3 feet. The top rain crust (2-3in) was underlain by unconsolidated sugary snow and readily collapsed under skier weight. More concerning was a weak layer found ~12 inches below the surface. During a compression test, the 12 inch slab broke on this weak layer with an elbow blow. Everything below this week layer was well consolidated.