Observation: Summit Park 1/23/2012

Observer Name:

Paradis / Brackelsberg

Observation Date:

01/23/2012

Region:

Salt Lake
Parleys Canyon
Summit Park

Location or Route:

Summit Park

Weather

Sky:

Overcast

Precipitation:

Light Snowfall

Wind Speed:

Calm

Weather Comments:

Starting snowing lightly at about 2pm. Heavier snow by 4pm.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth:

20"

New Snow Density:

Low

Snow Surface Conditions:

Powder

Red Flags

Recent Avalanches

Cracking

Collapsing

Red Flag Comments:

Plenty of collapsing on the way up.

Primary Concern

Primary Concern:

Deep Slabs

Probability:

High

Aspect:

North

Northeast

East

West

Northwest

Elevation:

Mid

Trend:

Same

Primary Concern Comments:

Not surprisingly, the main concern is the recent snow over very weak facets. This was easily illustrated by wide spread collapsing and cracking.

snow_profile_location:

Comments - Photos - Videos (group 1)

We wanted to get out and take a look at the snow in the Summit Park area. This snow profile is in a protected area just off the main ridgeline. Interestingly, two compression tests failed within the new snow but the ECT failed & proporgated on the facets as we'd expect. The propagation saw test caused the block to fail after cutting about 10cm into a 90 cm block.

Observed Danger Rating:

High

Forecast Danger Rating:

High