Travel today was in low and east Mineral. Very weak and thin snowpack structure, similar to what Mark Johnston and I saw in this area on January 12 - about a month ago. Below ~8,500' there is less than a meter of snow with facets down near the ground. Closer to the surface is low-density snow from this past week and also a layer of graupel from Friday, Feb 7. With so many weak layers, this structure will not support much of a load.

Photo of typical snowpack structure.

Photos of wind-drifting as well as sensitive, shallow (< 5 cm) wind slab.

Ahead of a significant winter storm, I am seeing the following weaknesses in the snowpack:

1. Thin and faceted, such as what we saw today in Mineral.

2. Thin and faceted repeater slopes that have avalanched one or more times this season.

3. Mid-pack facets that were buried late January.

4. 5-15 cm thick graupel layer from 2/7 storm