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Observation: Neffs

Observation Date
2/4/2020
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake » Neffs
Location Name or Route
Neffs Canyon
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
C-C-C-Cold. Mostly zero or below. It may have crept above zero in the sun but not much. Wind was moderate to light, even on the ridge tops.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
18"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Deep. Too deep. We found the storm snow to be about a foot and a half and and closer two feet at upper elevations. Neff's Canyon seemed like a good choice for today since the storm strongly favored the city and benches and it seemed like the snow didn't get pushed far up the mountains. Luckily we had seven people to help with trailbreaking because we broke trail through deep, difficult snow to the summit of Neff's Canyon. The upper third of the canyon was somewhat wind affected, especially mid to late storm and it had a slabby, denser layer in the upper third of the new snow, which made trailbreaking difficult because you had to struggle to get your tips above the slab onto the surface. The wind affected areas also skied poorly and you had to be on a steep slope to get going in the knee-deep, slabby snow. Mid to lower canyon was better but everyone's skis still seemed to submarine much of the time, hard to keep tips up. Mostly the snow was just too deep. Better to stay in places with less new snow.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
The only red flag I noticed was wind affected snow at elevations above about 9,000' and near ridges. The snow had a slabby feel. I pulled on lots of quick columns I cut out with my ski pole and some of them sheared clean on the lower density snow below the wind affected layer but most of the columns were not very reactive. I could not get the snow to crack very much, even off the high ridges. I would rate the danger as generally Moderate where we were for wind slabs and possibly some stuffing in steep terrain. This next storm is an obvious concern because it's supposed to be denser snow on top of all this light, cold snow with wind. Could be exciting in the wrong ways.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Repeat of text in Red Flags box:
The only red flag I noticed was wind affected snow at elevations above about 9,000' and near ridges. The snow had a slabby feel. I pulled on lots of quick columns I cut out with my ski pole and some of them sheared clean on the lower density snow below the wind affected layer but most of the columns were not very reactive. I could not get the snow to crack very much, even off the high ridges. I would rate the danger as generally Moderate where we were.
Comments
A photo of the trailbreaking conditions.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates