Observation Date
3/17/2018
Observer Name
T Diegel, Patterson, Gregersen Godlewski
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Reynolds Pk
Location Name or Route
Butler, Soldier, Big Water, Reynolds
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
snowed harder than I anticipated all day. A bit of a breeze on the exposed ridges but not big, and wasn't creating slabbage.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
we dug a couple of quick pits on north facing slopes at around 9k. Our results seemed inconsistent; had one spot where a 2.5' block had a nice shear with very little effort on a layer that seemed to be pre-storm, another that had no good shears and an impressively-dense/heavy 3-4" thick crust that may have been a result of Thursday's rain and had good bonding of the new snow to it and seemed to be a far stouter bridge than it seems mankind can make these days, yet another that showed good shears on layers that appeared to be mid-storm. Together they created....confusion, and a bit of confidence yet trepidation. Maybe I need to go to a Snowpack Summary Discussion in Holladay? But in these mid-elevations there was not too much in the way of windslabs that had been created through this cycle; at least, less so considering the winds that apparently blew last night.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Collapsing
Red Flags Comments
We had a couple of whoomphs on sheltered south facing at about 8300'
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Problem #1 Comments
Given how much SWE has been added and the variability that we were getting in our quick pits we were being pretty cautious in our choices, even as noted above we weren't seeing much evidence of wind loading/slab development. And it was snowing hard enough/long enough that we were conscientous of things changing as the day went on.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #2 Comments
I saw that there was a difference between deep slab and persistent slab and forgot to read it, but to me it has become deep slab because the facet layers are now down deep (other than the paths that have already run; trying to keep a mental list!). It's getting harder for me to imagine that lil ol' me is going to trigger something that now lies >6 feet down, but.....
Comments
We didn't tempt any slopes >30 degrees today. I would guess that there would at least be some exciting sluffing on those. I thought originally that it was progged to back off abruptly late today, but it sounds like there will continue to be additional snow tonight/tomorrow so it likely won't "settle" quickly.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
