Observation Date
1/27/2021
Observer Name
N. McEachern, N. Rushford
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Maybird Gulch
Location Name or Route
Maybird
Comments
Toured to Maybird today to get a look at the alpine snowpack. Our nice and calm storm last weekend left us with plenty of snow available for transport and it’s currently being moved just about everywhere. Hand shears on the hike up showed 4F+ slab development and cohesion on top of the F hardness storm snow. Collapses and cracks were noted in lesser travelled and more loaded areas.
Above 9,000 precip was falling at S1 in the morning and progressed to S2. Winds from the S and W started at moderate gusting strong and by the time we left there were some extreme gusts.
I’ve been curious about snow depths in the upper elevation areas of LCC and wasn’t surprised to see how variable it is. Measurements ranged from 75cm on ridges to over 200cm in the loaded areas with most probe strikes going to about 170cm in the upper Maybird area.
Dug a pit on a WNW aspect at 10,100’. We did two ECTs. Results from one side of the pit gave us an ECTP25 down 110cm where the HS was 175cm. Results from the other side of the pit where the HS was 195cm gave us an ECTX. Still lots of variability out there and nothing is even close to being locked up on the North side of the compass.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
High
Coordinates