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Observation: Temple Fork

Observation Date
2/2/2013
Observer Name
Brodhead, Moose, Hough-Snee, and Kleinhesselink
Region
Logan
Location Name or Route
Temple Peak
Weather
Sky
Clear
Weather Comments
Tair -2c @ 11:40 (7,348ft) with temperature increasing into the afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Characteristics Comments
HS 65cm @ 7,348 ft, HS 85cm @ 7,666 ft. The amount of wind deposited snow that sits above the Jan-8 rime crust is quite variable. This made pockets of instability difficult to detect.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Cracking
Collapsing
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
It seemed like every 10 or 15ft we traveled, the slope collapsed. Cracking occurred almost as frequently. Towards the end of the day (approximately 1pm), snow was falling from trees and rapid warming became more of a concern.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Slopes changed from full-on safe to full-on dicey, depending on the amount of wind deposition from recent wind events.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
The Temple Fork snowpack is thin, and it didn't appear to receive much snow from the storms that occurred earlier this week. However, depending on the amount of wind loading on the Jan-8 rime crust, instability of the persistent slab variety is worth our attention.
Comments
We dug two pits. First pit at 7,423 (W facing) results: ECTP 8 (32cm wind slab failing on Jan-8 rime crust). Second pit at 7,666 results: CT10 (failing on new storm snow and wind slab/rime-crust interface). See video below for 7,666 pit.
We observed surface hoar at lower elevations and in sheltered aspects.
Pockets of wind slabs frequently broke out along the skin track.
A quick video of a compression test. Approximate location: N41 deg 49.546, W111 deg 32.769.