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Observation: Cache Valley Foothills

Observation Date
1/14/2013
Observer Name
Toby Weed
Region
Logan
Location Name or Route
North and West Cache Foothills
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Low clouds moving into the valley from the northwest. Cold day in the Cache
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
5"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Faceted Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
We found some nice shallow powder riding conditions
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Triggered and felt a large collapse in a gully on a west facing slope. The northwest facing side and the drifted gut of the gully collapsed with a classic whumpfing sound... We saw evidence of a few natural ridge-top hard slab avalanches, likely caused by cornice falls durring the storm on Friday (1/11), 1 to 2 feet deep, 50 to 100' wide. These were all under 6000' in elevation and on east facing slopes, and most did not run very far due to terrain restrictions....
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #1 Comments

Obvious wind slab activity a couple days old. Hard wind slabs built up on shallow and very weak faceted snow.

Comments

Otto checking out a small natural hard slab avalanche caused by cornice fall during Friday's storm... The hard chunks were 1 to 2 feet deep, but this particular avalanche only ran around 50' down the slope.

We noted nice surface hoar development along the low ridges, and you can see the crystals on this chunk of debris glistening in the sun...