Observation: West Ridge, Amazon Basin

Observation Date
2/27/2026
Observer Name
Pagnucco
Region
Logan » Amazon Basin » West Ridge, Amazon Basin
Location Name or Route
Amazon Basin
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Windy in exposed terrain, but did not observe any snow movement/loading.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Characteristics Comments

It's hard to describe the surface snow right now, as it varies widely by elevation and aspect. We observed bullerproof crusted snow bw 7300-8000' on our ascent. From 8000-8700, the surface snow was rimed and felt like styrofoam. 8700-9000' was wind-ravaged and very firm. Lots of large graupel visible from Tues/Wed warm storm.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Found lots of weak snow in our pit on E-facing 9000' slope, but it's under a solid 4-5" layer of dense storm snow and a few crusts that appear to be holding everything together. The Tues/Wed storm snow came in wet and warm and has capped everything with rain crusts, frozen/rime graupel crusts, and soft but thick graupel snow. We observed no red flags today.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments

Old facets from January/February are still intact and still producing propagation. (ECTP24 at old/new interface)

Snow Profile
Aspect
East
Elevation
9,000'
Slope Angle
21°
Comments

We found excellent corn snow on our exit, starting at 8400' all the way back down to the highway.

Coordinates