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Observation Date
11/27/2012
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Cardiac Ridge
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Another nice clear and calm day in the mountains, perfect set up for near surface faceting.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Almost every type of snow condition you could imagine, except for powder. Was finding skiable faceted snow here and there, but in the exposed alpine terrain of Cardiac Ridge mostly finding wind crust with near surface facets below the crust and a few spots where the crust had completly faceted out.
Comments
Main problem with the snow-pack right now is the NSF taking place on all aspects with a northerly tilt. For example Cardiac Ridge is mostly wind crusted with the faceting taking place under the crust, the wind crust varies in thickness quite a bit in fairly small sized area. But what the whole slope has in common are about 3" of NSF underlying the wind crust, which in turn means that if the crust has not rotted out by the next storm it will most likely hold more weight than a protected slope with a surface that has completly faceted , and will be harder to predict stability, and might lead to larger collapse failure avalanches than slopes with out a wind crust capping the facets. Pics, different thicknesses of wind crust on Cardiac Ridge, A handfull of the faceted snow underlying the wind crust, and skin trail through the crust capped facets, quite slippery a bit like skinning in sand. Forecaster Comments: We appreciate obs like this as it offers both facts and opinions on the snow. Thanks Mark
Pit on N facing intermediate ridge where I've dug previous pits this year reveal compression and strengthening of the facets from the Oct storm. Old facets have rounded and been compressed down to just a couple inches by the overlying 18" 2 finger slab on top, facets at the ground are also damp and easily made into a snowball, not really seeing them as a player anymore, at least not in this location, mabye different in a thinner snow-pack area. pic wet facets at the ground.
Might need some of this crap if you want to get to this crap.