Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Snow Stability

Bottom Line

Yesterday, Tom Guthrie and I ventured into Angell Basin. We had to break trail through several feet of new snow. Anthony Lakes since Friday, 2/12, has received upwards of 4 feet of new snow. While we did not observe any natural avalanche activity we did have a number of red flags jump out at us including isolated whoomphing and cracking of the snowpack. Tom and I each dug our own pits on the East Shoulder of Lee's Peak at an elevation of 8500' on a NE aspect. Our test results were inconclusive - CTM BRK's down 40cm and 110cm and ECTX's. The upper 2' of the snowpack is all F - fist hardness. There just doesn't seem to be a cohesive enough slab...yet...to be able to carry a fracture across the slope. However, most Snotel sites this morning are reporting several inches of snow settlement. This will likely increase the slablike properties of the snowpack and could lead to increased sensitively to human-triggering. Where the new snow is being moved and deposited by the wind there will likely be thick (18-24") reactive wind slabs developing on N-E aspects near ridgeline. Best bet for safe and unbelievable powder riding conditions is to keep the slope angles below 30 degrees through the weekend.