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Observation: Garden City Canyon

Observation Date
1/28/2023
Observer Name
Chris Benson
Region
Logan » Bear Lake » Garden City Canyon
Location Name or Route
Garden City Cyn
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
New snow and wind slab were observed throughout the morning. Hst seems to be around 35cm of somewhat dense snow. The westerly winds have build widespread drifts and fresh wind-lips in exposed terrain. Observed signifiant wind erosion on a north ridge with 1-2' of relief. Surprisingly, pit location did not have significant wind affected snow. Winds were variable today, but thinking that higher elevation exposed areas are experiencing significant wind. May have spotted a small windslab that pulled out on an east aspect around 6,000' while driving back down Logan Canyon
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
Again, Hst seems to be around 35cm of somewhat dense snow. I observed some cracking under foot, but no real shooting cracks or collapsing. (only broke about 0.5 miles of trail)
The new snow is not bonding well with an interface/layer abou 35 cm down. At first glance, the soft, shiney grains look like they could be near-surface facets. Regardless of the grain type, this very soft slab is not bonding well. Both CT and shovel tilt test produced clean and sudden fractures.
Snow Profile
Aspect
East
Elevation
8,600'
Comments
The new snow doesn't seem to be bonding well with an interface around 34 cm down. These grains are sugary and weak, and may be similar to what was reported in the Ogden zone last weekend. Regardless, the slab is very soft and resulted in ECTX.
Perhaps in areas with more wind, this slab will be much stiffer and able to propagate across terrain.
Limited view of terrain in the windzone, but anywhere in the open exposed to the wind today had lots of erosion/deposition and significant depth changes in the storm snow.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
High
Coordinates