Wind Loading

Rapid Warming

Poor Snowpack Structure

The snow over in Corkscrew is not as deep as similar areas in Gold Basin ranging from 60-100 cm with a modal depth of probably 85. The wind effects were pretty limited in the forest, but were evident on exposed open areas above 10,700. The alpine looked pretty bad from our vantage. The more shallow snow in Corkscrew has deteriorated over our periods of high pressure and is mostly facets of various sizes under the last storm cycle. Luckily the whole snow profile is weak and so there is no real cohesive slab to slide, but plenty of potential to get some loose sloughs going on more extreme terrain. We did a series of 3 CT tests during our tour with no results. The columns just slowly disintegrated through the test due to lack of cohesion. Luckily the profile starts soft (F), then is slightly more dense through the mid layers (F+) and then gets slightly denser at the ground (4F). The differences are pretty subtle, but despite being weak, the profile is not upside down. The layers of faceting are quite clear in the picture below. If we get any load on this snowpack, it will go. We were definitely keen on staying off any wind slabs that were deposited on top of the faceted old snow.