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Observation: Double Hill

Observation Date
12/6/2024
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Double Hill
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin-Double Hill
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
North
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Another warm and pleasant day in the mountains with a few high clouds and some light north winds on the ridge tops.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Lots of weak faceted surface snow and some melt freeze crusts on the sunny aspects. Travel around the Whitney area was better than I expected mainly on some of the aspects with an easterly direction. There is a little structure to the snowpack in some places and I was not totally in the sand box moving around.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
I checked the poor snowpack structure as a red flag because there is generally no structure or layers and its mostly weak sugary snow. Not a concern until there is some change in the weather and the snowpack has to adjust to new snow and wind.
Snow Profile
Elevation
9,900'
Comments
1. The access is a bit of a mixed bag with both wheels and tracks used to get out into the Whitney area. There is about 12-16" at the 9,000' elevation and travel off the road is thin, but folks are finding some ok snow to ride on with some supportability.
Its not all doom and gloom out there considering the lack of snow, I was surprised to find a little bit of supportability in the Double Hill area. There a couple of firm layers in the snowpack which keeps you off the ground on slopes that have some east direction to them. ***The flip side to this however is once it snows and blows again these slopes might be able to support some weight before they fail.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates