Observation: Black Bess

Anna L, Billy H, Charlie L, Izak L

Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Grizzly Gulch » Black Bess

Black Bess

While traveling in low angle south aspects in Grizzly Gulch today we encountered clear signs of instability. Collapsing and whumpfing tied to the 2+ inches of water received in the storm. Broken skies with light snowfall, moderate west winds, and an air temperature around 20°F. Snow transport was apparent and we had loud whumping consistently through the day while traveling and skiing on terrain under 30°. We dug a quick profile at ~10,200 ft on a 25° S-facing slope with a total snow depth of 60 cm. A thin snowpack structure was present, with lower-density storm snow sitting on top of heavier new storm snow. This storm's snow rested over a weak layer at 8 cm that produced an ECTP25, matching the collapsing we experienced while moving through the area.

Considerable

Considerable