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Observation: Sink Hollow

Observation Date
2/24/2013
Observer Name
Weed
Region
Logan
Location Name or Route
Sink Hollow/Beaver Creek Ridge
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Direction
North
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
I took the dog for a short walk at mid elevations while the girls were in ski lessons on my day off. I found the weather nice and warm in sheltered sunny areas, but the north and downslope breeze put a chill in the air at times.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
8"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Nice shallow powder conditions, but I certainly could feel the underlying snow especially on the previously sun-crusted west and southwest facing slopes. Otto the dog had trouble following my up track and exit traverse. He was floundering, almost swimming, in bottomless sugary facets especially in shady areas where I would also drop through a soft developing slab into well developed and very soft facets (depth hoar?) even on my long fat boards...

Red Flags
Red Flags
Cracking
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Triggered several localized collapses with cracking in smallish pockets a couple meters in diameter around me. Also one much larger resounding whumpf, which seemed to involve the entire low angled southwest facing meadow I was crossing. The entire snowpack in this area is shallow (only around 3 feet deep) and there is widespread weak faceted snow in the basal (January) layers. I found this poor snowpack structure setup at mid elevations on most aspects, but it's worse in shady terrain...
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments

I did not see any evidence of natural avalanches from the weekend storm. Not enough of a new load to activate the buried facets by a long shot.... Drifted terrain could be a different story though.... Luckily, this appears to be more of a problem at upper elevations where the snowpack is thicker and stronger. A good load from a moist spring storm or significant warming in the next few weeks could be enough to push the very poorly structured snowpack over the edge. We're not done with this problem yet, at least in the Beaver Creek Area. Stay tuned.

Comments

Even during the height of yesterday's storm, the danger in this area never really climbed above Moderate (level 2). The several inches of light snow hardly weighed anything, and the winds certainly didn't reach the intensity that I had expected. Non-the-less, the widespread poor snow structure and continued observed whumpfing indicate potential for dangerous avalanches still exists in shallow areas, which are unfortunately fairly widespread this season in the Central Bear River Range.