Smith Basin Elkford
Quick reportsouthrockies · Dec 31, 2021 · Elkford West
Quick report
- Weather
- cold
- Ride Type
- mellowSlopes
- Stayed Away
- alpineSlopes, steepSlopes
- Riding Quality
- Good
- Snow Conditions
- powder, windAffected
Today in Smith Basin in Elkford we found a much shallower snowpack. The total depth was 140 cm in our profile on a sheltered southwest-facing slope. There was little wind effect at this treeline location and the storm snow from Christmas is slowly settling over the Dec 4 rain crust layer. We did find sugary snow crystals (facets) over the Dec 4 crust but did not get any test results. There were no new avalanches in the area, no wind today and the sun made it feel a lot warmer than -19 which was the temperature at 2200m. There is still soft snow out there and the riding was fun and helped keep us warm.
Snowpack
We did a number of tests ECTN 19 down 35cm, CTM 12 (RP) down 45 on decomposing fragments sz 1, Deep tap test on Dec 4 FC on crust DTN