Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

A quick morning trip took me up to 3200ft in elevation. There was a melt freeze crust on the surface everywhere that I covered, about 5cm thick- supportable on skis but punchy for feet. Above 4000ft there was snow in the trees, and I suspect the surface would have been increasingly less icy above that elevation. Beneath the crust was dry rounded grains until the next crust about 30cm down. The small glimpses of nearby peaks (up to 5000ft) did not reveal any signs of large old avalanches, although a few large glide cracks were noted, and a number of loose avalanches. These were mostly in the 4000-5000ft range.