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Observation: Moab

Observation Date
3/11/2023
Observer Name
Nauman, Darling, Grote, Howell
Region
Moab
Location Name or Route
Gold Knob
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Today started off sunny and slowly became more overcast and ended with increasing snow showers. Temps were quite warm.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
The new snow was very dense and was about 4" at lower elevations up to about 10" in our snowpit at 10600' elevation. The snow was very supportable with enough softness on top to be pretty fun.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
We experienced 5 pretty noticeable collapses, but not any cracking. One of the collapses was very large and you could tell it went across the entire face we were on (100'+) - very spooky. We also had an ECTP 9 at 11" below the snow surface. The break was just underneath the previous sun crust in facets just underneath (see photo below). The propagation surface was smooth and quite planar, but interpretation of the result is tricky due to the break being underneath a pretty sizeable freeze crust. There were several other sun crusts lower in the profile, both with considerable facets underneath. Based on the ECT result, the collapsing, and the new snow load, we kept our travels off of slopes over 30 degrees. I'm calling today considerable from what we saw on south faces, but the High danger call up high was probably accurate. We didn't get eyes on any new avalanches, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a cycle higher in the Alpine.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
With >1.5" of SWE, this new snow is likely to be stressing all the weak layers in our snowpack. Need to let everything settle out for a minute. With more snow coming down tonight, more stress could awaken the highly variable snowpack we have right now.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
I was quite surprised to find so many facets in our profile today on a S/SW aspect - really weird. These layers keep popping up in weird areas. Although there was wind with the storm, the new wet snow didn't seem to get built new drifts as much as I might have expected.
Snow Profile
Aspect
Southwest
Elevation
10,600'
Slope Angle
28°
Comments
ECTP 9 result. Ed didn't keep filming when I pulled the slab off :(, but it pulled out as a cohesive slab on a perfectly planar slide surface.
Video
ECTP interface. Failure under the sun crust
Beautiful day on the Knob
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates