Observation: Reynolds Peak

Observation Date
12/22/2014
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » Butler Fork » Reynolds Peak
Location Name or Route
Reynolds peak
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Rain snow line at the S curve in BCC, graupel and light snow throughout the day, not much accumulation, strong winds from the NW continued to blowing in the stong catagory out of wind sheltered terrain.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
3"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments

About 3 inches of new dense graupel resting on the rain crust that formed from yesterdays rain up to 8500ft, snow under the crust is still damp, crust not noted above 8700ft. Snow about as upside down as it gets, pencil hard slab on top, light density snow from earlier in the week underlying the slab.

Went up to the top of Reynolds peak for a look at what had happened during the storm. Lots of wind loading up high stripping the snow of the W-NW facing and depositing it on the E-NE facing Reynolds Bowl. No real signs of avalanching were noted in the main bowl, except a smaller soft slab that had released out of the N facing headwall. Snow pit just off the peak in the wind sheltered N facing terrain was kind of a eye opener, I was thinking the easiest failure plain was either going to be the loose faceted surface from before the storm or the facets under the thin wind slab from last weak, but what discovered in the two pit I dug was that I could not isolate a column before it would fail at the facets at the ground, clean sheer with quite allot of energy, both columns failed upon isolation or before, Also in the video you can see the three weak layers clearly after failing at the ground interface first. One large collapse on the ridge to Reynolds Peak noted, but no results, I think the denseness of the slab has made thing less sensitive than yesterday. Photos, rain crust below 8700ft, weak layers in the column that broke at the ground upon isolation, snow pit, NE face of Reynolds loading up, some work breaking trail.

Video
Video
Today's Observed Danger Rating
High
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable