PC Ridgeline- before the storm1/4/2024
Went out to have one last look at the snow before the meat of the storm arrives. Travel was up to the PC Ridgeline- W Monitor, S Monitor, No Name Bowl and Scott’s Bluff. New snow amounts were in the one to two inch range by mid day. We have multiple problematic layers in our shallow snowpack. The pile of loose well developed facets on the surface and below crust layers has been well documented and exists on most polar aspects. The slopes that avalanched during our large avy cycle almost a month ago now are thin, in the one too two foot range, and many have faceted to the ground lacking any type of cohesion whatsoever. In other terrain the surface snow has faceted down to some fairly stout crusts that will act as a slippery bed surface and create long running slides when we get a load. I also found something unusual for the Wasatch which is buried surface hoar. Usually the prefrontal winds and warm temperatures destroy the surface hoar before it has a chance to get buried, but I found intact surface hoar buried in multiple places today by a inch or two of new snow. We’re just gonna have to wait to see what happens with this layer. If it becomes depth hoar we’re in trouble. But I guess in the long run it doesn’t matter what layer is the culprit. All that really matters is that if we get a decent load of snow or a slab it’s not going to stick to the underlying snow. The foundation of our snowpack is garbage and with a bad foundation avalanches are going to be a problem on steeper slopes for some time to come. The video is loose facets on the surface and the buried surface hoar I found.
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January 2024
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