The poor snowpack structure is evident. With the increased visibility today, we could see the widespread carnage of Little Cottonwood. It was harder to find mid and upper-elevation north and northeast-facing aspects that had not avalanched versus slopes that had. In Upper Days Fork, one large avalanche allowed us to get a better look at the crown. The new snow and wind-drifted snow sits atop multiple layers of weak faceted snow. In the Upper Days avalanche, the slide failed not at the snow snow/old snow interface but 10 cm down into the facets, in and older interface of weak faceted snow. The weak grains were slightly more extensive and developed at this failure point (2mm).
Though these avalanches seem as though are becoming harder to trigger, I would continue to suspect of steep slopes where I know these weak grains exist. This problem doesn’t seem like it will be going anywhere anytime fast.
Any areas where the recent winds have loaded this weak snow has the potential to step down into deeper weak layers in the snowpack, creating a very large and dangerous avalanche. The wind zones remain especially suspect.
Upper Day's Fork crown. NE Aspect, 10300'.
Recent avalanche activity
