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Observation Date
11/30/2013
Observer Name
Brackelsberg / Paradis / Francis
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Sunset Peak
Location Name or Route
Sunset Peak
Weather
Sky
Clear
Weather Comments
Beautiful bluebird day in the Wasatch.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments

The snow pack should be no surprise to anyone who has been out. It is very shallow and mostly faceted. There are a few layers in various areas, but these are very spacially dependent.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Snowpack ranged from completely faceted to faceted with some crusts/layers.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northwest
Elevation
10,000'
Slope Angle
29°
Comments

We were interested in checking out north facing snow pack prior to the storm next week. There were no surprises, the snow pack was very weak and very faceted. We had conflicting stability tests from the compression (CTM14 and CTH24), ECT (ECTNR), and PST (PST 35/100).

We saw what we expected from the weak snow pack and are very interested in what happens with the upcoming storm. We all felt that the best case scenario was a large, wet storm that would overload the existing snow pack and clean things out so we can start over.

The north aspects of Sunset Peak skied very well (althought shallow) and were seeing a lot of activity on Saturday.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates