Small windslab triggered on approach for inspection. Failure interface had 5 mm Surface Hoar. Soft slab, remote propagation onto the adjacent slope. Debris covered about half of the road bed.
Photo: J Hambelton
Small windslab triggered on approach for inspection. Failure interface had 5 mm Surface Hoar. Soft slab, remote propagation onto the adjacent slope. Debris covered about half of the road bed.
Gusty winds transporting snow in Taylor Fork on Saturday. Triggered a 4-5 inch deep wind slab that propagated about 50 ft at the top of a north east facing slope at 9,500 ft.
Photo: JP
We rode into Yale Creek just south of Sawtell peak in the Centennials. Thin snowpack that is mostly faceted. There was a slight rain/mist the night before and again in the afternoon with warm air moving into the area ahead of the approaching storm. The rain/mist created a zipper crust on top of the snowpack.
The snow under that zipper crust is faceted and weak. It will be the primary weak layer once a slab forms on top.
Just an initial look at low elevation snow around some of the ice climbs.
8" of new snow at the Grotto Falls TH.
I couldn't find any surface hoar that was buried by last night's snow, but I'm sure it's out there. Doesn't really matter because there's plenty of weak, faceted snow that was the previous snow surface.
The new snow is all fluff and not a concern at lower elevations in Hyalite. Perhaps it could be enough of a load and enough of a cohesive slab at higher elevations where more snow fell.
For now, things seem mostly stable, but that will change quickly with any amount of wind.
