Wind Loading

Poor Snowpack Structure

The recent Southerly winds have affected ridgetop snow across the range leaving sastrugi and firm, stubborn windslabs along ridgetops (Pic 3). Along the Millcreek and PC Ridgelines the snowpack is still relatively thin (generally <110 cm) and the high-pressure temperature gradient is quickly faceting everything it can. Some excellent surface hoar growing in protected drainage areas (Pic 2). Digging in a few N and NE areas showed that the last storm's snow isn't an overall slab hazard up but has failure potential isolated wind-slabbed areas (Pic 1). The spatial variability of the lingering PWL is interesting. While I'm starting to feel decent about this layer in deeper snowpacks, I had one ECTP12 result on this (1-2mm rounded facets on top of Nov. crust) (Pic 1). This result is inconsistent in pits but worth keeping in mind.