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Observation: Moffit Basin

Observation Date
4/9/2013
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Moffit Peak-Whitney Basin
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Northeast
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
After a wild morning with strong east winds and blowing and drifting snow, the afternoon cleared and allowed for some good riding and turning. The winds however, were still quite strong from the east, northeast forming dense sensitive drifts along the upper ridgelines.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
14"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Quite good snow with somewhat cold powder on the higher north aspects. The new snow rode like there was 12-14", deeper in spots where the wind had blown it around and in protected trees. The new snow was starting to take on some heat with the high angle of the sun, with some slopes getting a little damp. It was another nice storm for the area and the Uintas are white and filled in for a change.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Cracking
Red Flags Comments
The winds were the main red flag today with east and northeast winds loading the south and west facing slopes. With the new snow and up slope winds there was a fair amount of cross loading across many of the big open slopes that face north and east.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Deep dense wind slabs were observed today along the exposed ridgelines from strong steady winds. Many of these would crack under the weight of a person. These wind slabs have the potential to break quite wide and possibly break into old snow as they traveled down the slope. I would think these should settle out with decreasing winds and warmer temps tomorrow.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
I did not observe any slides breaking into the old faceted snow from this storm, but cannot rule out the possibility as seen from last weeks very large natural avalanche in Super Bowl.
Comments
First photo: the new snow was starting to develop into a soft slab and I could trigger these soft slabs on a small test slope. They were entraining a decent amount of snow as they got going. Second photo: I observed several of these natural slides on Moffit Peak. They would start out as a small point release and then entrain the new storm snow with some creating a shallow soft slab to fracture as it gained momentum.
Some of the debris piles from these natural slides were stacking up a bit and a person would not want to be caught up in one, especially in any kind of terrain trap. A couple of these slides triggered a shallow soft slab as they picked-up speed coming down the slope.