Observation Date
1/14/2018
Observer Name
Brett Carroll
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork » Upper Days
Location Name or Route
Upper Days Fork
Comments
We had a great morning making laps on primarily southeast facing terrain in upper Days Fork, on slopes less than 35 degrees. The snow was still high quality. We also made some interesting observations in a snowpit that I think are especially relevant as we saw many tracks from people skiing steep east and southeast facing slopes today. We dug just below the ridgeline between Flagstaff and false Flagstaff on a 33 degree ESE facing slope at 10350 feet with a total snow depth of 85cm. The results from our ECT were ECT P 30 (full propogation across the block on the 30th hit) down 50 cm failing on a thin layer of small grain facets above a melt-freeze crust. That layer exhibits 4 of 5 lemons. My interpretation is that it would take a fair amount of force to trigger an avalanche on slopes with similar snowpack but, if you did, it has the poor structure and energy required to pull out a large avalanche. Classis low probability, high consequence persistant slab.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None