Observation Date
1/25/2019
Observer Name
jg
Region
Uintas » Hoyt Peak
Location Name or Route
Hoyt Peak
Comments
I took a nice walk up Hoyt Peak to have a look at the high terrain in the area. Even through binoculars, I was surprised to see no evidence of avalanches from this most recent storm cycle. I dug a test pit to have a look at the structure on an upper elevation south facing slope. It seems like south facing terrain has been suspect this year and I wanted to have a look at Weston's junk trunk at a higher elevation. There area series of crusts through the pack with faceted grains below the crusts. The weakest snow was fist hard and below a decomposing crust about 85cms down (33"). It's not a total junk show below 85cms but right around 85 cms its definitely loose and weak.
Even though the snowpack structure is sketchy the snow wasn't showing any other red flags. Pit tests failed with hard moderate effort and did propagate across the column. I'm feeling like we're trending toward a more stable snowpack but there's one big lemon, the structure. That being said, it's not a "go anywhere" snowpack and good decision making is imperative. If you do trigger a slide, it most likely will fail mid to deep in the pack and the consequence will be high. If you're traveling in steep south facing terrain or terrain with an easterly component or in steep terrain that's been wind loaded I'd go with considerable danger. Moderate danger in other terrain.
Photo below shows the faceted grains at the weak interface 85cms down.

Lots of rime in the trees and recent winds have been blowing it down onto the snow surface.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate