Observation Date
12/13/2022
Observer Name
Derek DeBruin, Dave Leydet
Region
Ogden » Ben Lomond » Cutler Ridge
Location Name or Route
Ben Lomond, Cutler Ridge
Weather
Weather Comments
A relatively mild day. 20F at the parking lot around 8am with no wind. +/-1-2cm/hr of snow throughout the tour, totalling about 5" of new snow over the course of 7 hours, judging by the refill in our skin track. Winds consistently light and westerly. Temps dropped noticeably and winds picked up a bit starting around 2pm. Skies were overcast nearly all day. Visibility was limited, generally not more than a few hundred yards, sometimes not even a few hundred feet.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Cracking
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Checking lots of boxes today. Did not see any new avalanches today, but high elevations were obscured due to low vis. Touchy conditions (and powder skiing) kept us from venturing higher.
Snowpack structure continues to be poor with underlying facets basically everywhere, as evidenced by sand boxing, pole probing, and hand pits. The snowfall amounts reported locally for the last two days verified; we picked up another 5" or so while we were out, and it was still snowing when we left around 330pm.
Noted evidence of wind loading and wind affected snow from yesterday beneath the new snow, but did not witness much, if any, wind transport of snow today.
Experienced ample cracking/collapsing/whumpfing. Collapsing happened easily at low elevations, including several test slopes from N to E quadrant of the compass, one of which cracked approx. 10 meters long.
At mid elevations, this pattern continued. However, in zones with particularly firm wind slab (P hard) below the new snow, collapsing did not occur. Also experienced a large collapse on a 25 degree SE facing slope ca. 7900ft, several hundred square meters.
Comments
Photo of large collapse on a 25 degree SE facing slope ca. 7900ft, perhaps 25m x 10m or more. Red lines indicate extent of collapse area--basically this entire slope (and a bit more lower out of frame).
Today's Observed Danger Rating
None
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
