Kobernik, Pollick, Orum

Ogden

Terrain adjacent to ski area

I can hardly call the current snowpack structure a red flag or identify any significant avalanche problems. That said, our focus revolved around the near surface facets that formed in mid November. In the areas where the overall depth is 2-3' this layer is identifiable as a faceted grain but has a hand hardness that is not alarming and I was pleased to find lots of necking between the grains. Of course if there was a big enough load, this weakness is where things would fail. It is the weakest layer in the pack but that is a very relative statement. Currently, no cracking, collapsing or significant snowpit test results is noted. There are other scattered areas where the pack is thinner than 2' where the structure is much more poor with more weak facets throughout the entire thin cover. This seems more spotty to me. Something to keep an eye on over the next period of time is how the various recent rain/rime crusts behave and to see if any weakness starts showing it's hand around them.

In the deeper locations, the oldest facets near the ground were more pronounced than I've seen in the Central Wasatch. Striated grains were visible with the naked eye, however, they are damp and most likely won't cause any problems down the road. Thanks Brian and Craig for spending some time with me in the hills and discussing the current snowpack.