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Observation Date
12/27/2013
Observer Name
Brackelsberg / Dawson
Region
Salt Lake » Park City Ridgeline » Murdock Peak
Location Name or Route
North Bowl of Murdock Peak
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Beautiful day in the mountains. The sun exposed aspects were getting very wet and we observed some roller balling and were able to create some small 'push-alanches'. These aspects will definitely have a hard, frozen crust on them on Saturday morning.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Characteristics Comments
There was 1 cm of new snow and graupel sitting on top of a ice crust. Most of the snow back was facets. The bottom 60cm was faceted with a few very thin layers mixed in.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The layers on top of the facets had slab properties. Although we didn't have much for stability test results, we were able to break the entire top 50cm of the snow pack off in a dense slab.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Northeast
Elevation
8,900'
Slope Angle
29°
Comments
It seems that this snowpack is a house of cards just waiting for enough of a load to cause issues. Our pit was on a relatively low angle slope. There are several roll-overs in the bowl that I am guessing would have been more reactive. We were not willing to go out into those steeper areas.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates