Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Dan Edmiston ยท Mar 16, 2016

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Weather

Intermittent snow showers during 90min tour, evidence of NW winds at ridge top but no snow transport observed.

Snowpack

HSN 10cms. No pits or formal tests completed. New snow was heavy due to warm temps and did not exhibit much cohesion except at ridge top due to wind. Had a few spots where snow gave out under skin track on steep sections. Some hard turns on small convexities (~35*) produced small sluffs. Underlying surface had mostly supportable melt-freeze crust so you could ski it easily. However, boot penetration was about 30-40cms so even with a little force you could get good edge bite with skis on the skin up. Overall the new snow did not seem to bond well to old snow surface and we opted to keep our ski descent to less than 35* due to this poor bonding.

Avalanche

Only small sluffs on steep convexities around 35 degrees an steeper but even the small sluffs had weight behind them.