Observation: Upper Collins area

Observation Date
11/11/2020
Observer Name
McKinley Talty
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Alta Ski Area » Upper Collins area
Location Name or Route
Collins Gulch
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Normal Caution
Comments
UAC intern McKinley here submitting a general obs from today up in Collins Gulch. Wind was strong from the NW when we arrived at 8:30 this morning, and the light snow from this week was easily being moved around. We dug a quick pit on a NW facing slope at 10,300' in an area free of man-made snow and compaction. We found HS=55 cm, right side up going from F- at the surface to F+ at the ground. The bottom 20 cm was showing signs of rounding. We also found a spotty thin layer (<5 cm thick) of crusty facets at the ground, which was not present across our entire pit. Guessing these were from the first bout of snow a couple weeks ago, and are probably more pronounced on northern shady slopes. ECT for good measure resulted in ECTX.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates