Observation Date
12/2/2013
Observer Name
J. Spitzer
Region
Provo » Provo Canyon » Timpanogos » Primrose Cirque
Location Name or Route
Roberts Horn/ Primrose Cirque
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Wind Direction
Southwest
Weather Comments
Starting around 1pm light snowfall. Cloudy all day with a drop in the cloud deck from above 12K in am to below 10K by late afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snowpack in lower Primrose Cirque varied greatly. Above the brush line (8K) generally the snow surface had a 1-2" 1F wind crust on top of ~2ft of loose faceted snow grains. The wind crust generally was not supportable enough to walk on top and we would punch into the faceted snow.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
The snowpack structure where we travel was poor today. We witness many (4-6) small sluffs that came off north facing cliff bands all day. By mid-day we had a fair amount of spindrift on our route from downsloping winds that had increased.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
With forecasted new snowfall and increased winds.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Comments
With the incoming storm I would take note on which terrain features held snow prior to this storm and which slopes where dry. The terrain feature we climbed today, I would NOT recommend climbing this with any additional snow as it is subject to high avalanche danger.
Below is a picture of the East Face of Roberts Horn. The snowy benches had 2-3ft of total snow pack.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
