Observation: Guardsman Pass area

Observation Date
1/25/2021
Observer Name
CT
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Guardsman Pass area
Location Name or Route
Guardsman pass
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Oh look the PWL is still there, no way. Snowpack around the top of PC facing NW is sitting with 120-140cm of total snow, roughly half of it is sitting on the PWL and some faceted snow.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
With any new snow in the coming week were gonna see added danger though there's plenty already. Mid snowpack there was a fist hard slab about 6-10" deep, right below the snowpack ranges from 1-4F and the bottom 1/4 is some not so sweet sugary facets from early season.
Comments
Winds were howling at the upper ridge line behind Jupiter lift at PCMR, noted some transport but still wasn't slabbed up walking around the ridge. Even stepping into fresh snow around 25-30 degrees wasn't giving me any cracks or collapsing, possibly due to location but unsure. ECT didn't get much results, still just adding to the slab that's gonna go once the PWL gets hit, still not to hard to pull the whole slab out at the PWL and other faceted snow above from the back if your ECT doesn't fail. New snow was still light in most areas including the south, great skiing on most aspects it seems, still hazards present under the snow, low angle was the key today although some bigger slope choices were punched, good to know people got away with it but just remember that if you hit the PWL on certain aspects you're gonna have a bad time.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates