Observation: Colorado Bowl

The snow that stacked up throughout mid-November came in right-side up, but was subjected to enough cold, clear nights that it became weak and faceted. On Friday, 11/21 I observed 16 inches of dense snow made up entirely of rounds. On Tuesday, 11/25, we observed the upper pack becoming weak and faceted. Cold, clear nights prevailed until Saturday, 11/29, allowing our very shallow snowpack to become faceted top to bottom. 9 inches of snow arrived on Sunday, and we are seeing avalanches. The new snow is just ever so slightly more cohesive than the underlying snow. On some slopes, the slab is too soft to produce avalanches, but on other slopes, where the slab is just slightly denser, avalanches are possible. As the new snow settles and gains some cohesion, I expect to see results in stability tests. I would not be surprised to see more small, pockety, soft slab avalanches breaking on steep roll-overs where weak, faceted snow exists underneath.