Observation Date
11/16/2012
Observer Name
Darce Trotter/ Steve Cote
Region
Skyline
Location Name or Route
GE Hill
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
balmy morning light ridge top winds
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
fairly even distribution with the exception of upper ridges, fetches nearly blown to dirt, drifts pockety and up to 4', cornices have stress fractures, a lot of tension cracks, other signs of failure but staying in place. 12"-18" of new snow from last storm has settled to 12" or so in sheltered areas, mostly fell on dry ground, more exposed terrain transported in some areas, stripped in others, appears white all over but depth as shallow as 6" and faceting to 12" of 4 finger barely supportable enough to eek out a turn or two. No collapsing, nothing to collapse in most areas. No avalanche hazard, just sub-surface objects a plenty made for very sketchy turns, trepidation, and just plain old knee knocking caution.
The current pack is and will continue to rot away, granted slower in the warm temps we experienced today, but none the less, worrisome due to lack of additional snow in the immediate future. The snow on the ground is the problem for the future.
Access is very limited without tearing up your body, equipment or machine, so not much going on yet.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
todays snow is tomorrows problem
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Problem #1 Comments
no load, just a weakening layer
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
Impact with flora, terra firma, crossing our fingers for no repeat of last year, time will tell, big storm would be welcomed, but would trigger a active cycle, maybe cleaning this stuff out, but in the past, multiple wide spaced precip events with a foot of new snow each just compounded the problem, Gotta love Utah, or maybe this is Colorado?
Comments
A closer look
Video
Walking out on the thin and rocky, this is typical of what we were finding on north facing slopes out of the wind shear
Video
widespread picture in more sheltered areas, what it is sitting on varies, ie, brush, rocks (lots poking out), etc
Video
East shoulder of GE hill, terrain feature collects a lot of the snow that is blown from the Southwest, did not want to get under this stuff even though it had huge stress relief cracks, we triggered some activity here on a early trip last year
