Observation: upper Days

Observation Date
4/9/2013
Observer Name
Andy Rich
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Upper Days, Toledo
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Direction
Northeast
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Felt downright wintery out there this morning with single digit temps and moderate ridgetop winds. Winds were funnelling from different direction depending on specific location but generally south aspects were much more loaded than norths.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Norths skied well and consistently. But even where there was less wind effect there were at least 2 noticeable weak interfaces in the snow from the last few days. What was previously our M/F snow last week is now a substantial breakable crust (not frozen underneath). Shelterd 9.5k' N aspect upper LCC had ~16" of "new" snow on top of the crust. with the most notable sheer planes just above the crust and about 8" down from the surface. We didn't see any movement or red flags on these planes, but it didn't seem out of the question.

Souths very quite a bit more wind loaded with deeper "new" snow and several weak layers ready to pop. We got substantial cracking (up to 60') and some avalanching (running 100' vertical on low 30's terrain) on these aspects. The most sensitive layers were within the upper 10" but there were some other layers deeper down that seemed like could easily step down to. We didn't push into big or steep terrain on these aspects but I expect it wouldn't have taken much to make things go big.

I didn't inspect closely below the M/F crust. I thought that it seemed unlikely to trigger anything below that point.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Cracking
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments

Gone are the days of corn skiing and no-brainer avalanche assessment. There are many weak layers in the upper snowpack, with varied strength and energy and distribution. Didn't see any notable persistent grain types so this might settle out quickly, but today there was some snow that easily would qualify as touchy.

We were out of the backcountry ~noon.