Wind Loading

Poor Snowpack Structure

Overall the PC Ridgeline’s only continuous snow lies on NNW through ENE aspects above ~8800'. Though the snowpack along the ridgeline's starting zones is very thin, that in place has a poor structure with multiple melt-freeze crusts and weak interfaces. Testing a NE-facing site around 9000' no column failure due to lack of a slab. However, coaxing a few SSTs did present Q2 failure below the lower crust associated with the 10/18-10/20 snow. One concern would be these interfaces staying weak until a storm slab falls on top with enough SWE to propagate this layer. Even though discontinuous, I can imagine a number of the PC ridgeline start zones with enough October coverage to cause notable failure. The other is isolated wind slabs that have been forming close to ridgelines since the 10/27 pulse. With their continued formation this high pressure, trying to keep track of wind-loaded features will help avoid issues with their burial in the next snow.