Observation Date
12/22/2021
Observer Name
R. Kosinski, J. Bowling
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Porter Fork » West Porter
Location Name or Route
West Porter
Comments
Started touring around 1030 under cloudy skies and warm temps. Snow in Porter Fork had surface hoar and was mash potatoes due to the warm air temps. In more exposed terrain, this surface hoar had been broken down by the winds. We dug a pit in an exposed area at 8500' N aspect and found a total snow depth of 105cm.
50-105cm: new snow, generally low density
43-50cm: facet layer and failure plane for PWL (3mm in size, very decomposed)
35-43cm: melt-freeze crust
30-35cm: facet layer
25-30cm: melt-freeze crust
15-25cm: facet layer
0-15cm: ice layer
We performed a column test and got a low-energy result on 24 on the identified failure plane. Shovel pull/shear test showed failure on aforementioned plane with moderate energy and indicated there was cohesiveness in the layer above the failure plane. Another item of note is that this setup is very similar to what I found last week in Butler Fork just over the Mill/BCC ridgeline.
We saw a couple natural avalanches in the West Porter area with a D2 below the left side of the cliff. There was a small skier-triggered avalanche near the top as well. With the predicted snow totals and SWE totals for the next week, I would expect that we could see a sort of repeat of last year's large avalanche cycle. I think it is likely that we will be solidly in high danger for a while during this next storm.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
High
Coordinates