Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackMax Strotbeck · Mar 4, 2025 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Skies were overcast, and for much of the day obscured. Temperatures hovered around the mid-twenties but felt colder at times with sustained light southwest winds and moderate gusts. Very light to moderate snowfall throughout my half-day tour.
Snowpack
I found 5-7cm of new snow directly above a crust on all aspects. This crust was most notable while skiing/skinning on W-S-E aspects. On north aspects, it is very thin and did not have much of an affect on ski quality. In a snowpit dug on a NNW aspect, I found a dry snowpack that became progressively harder as I dug deeper (up to the depth that I dug, 100cm). In a snowpit dug on an east aspect, I found a snowpack that was moist down to the early February dry-spell layer (which was buried 60cm down), and dry beneath that to the ground. Apart from the new snow, this snow was 1-finger to pencil hard throughout, including the basal facets. In the snowpits dug on each aspect, I did not see concerning results in snowpack instability tests. My question going forward is if we will see reactivity with more loading on these crusts near the surface.