Observation Date
1/31/2013
Observer Name
jg
Region
Uintas
Location Name or Route
Weber Canyon
Comments
Traveled from 7400-10,200, all aspects, slope angles to 32ยบ.
Everywhere I dig in the snow the snow profile is different. I was not finding instability in the new snow. The obvious weak layers are the buried faceted snow from the January dry spell and the basal facets from the beginning of the year (CT/ECT's are still able to activate this deep instability). South aspects had a crust sandwich with new storm snow sitting on a stout crust over facets over another crust sitting on more faceted snow. I collapsed the south facing slope a couple of times on ascent. A bit to my surprise, the south was not as bomber as I had thought it would be.
Cornices are growing but no results were achieved dropping a few big chunks on east and north facing slopes.
Wind was forming some sensitive drifts. Wind from this storm cycle has loaded south and east aspects.
The trees are coated with rime and, in a lot of places, an ice lens.
The snow pack is adjusting to the weight of the new snow but the potential to set of an avalanche failing on buried facets is considerable. The sun may be a factor over the weekend.
