Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Anonymous · Mar 2, 2019 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Overcast, moderate snowfall all day, light west winds,comfortable temps - mid 20s 13” overnight, 23” storm snow. Minimal wind transport overnight.

Snowpack

Cracking and small steep rolls failing cleanly on north and south. Failure on south was full storm depth on crust and suspected facets. Failure on north seemed full storm depth to shallower storm instabilities. Surface hoar noticed on northern slopes before storm and near surface facets suspected elsewhere.

Avalanche

The largest pocket on north was 25'x10'x1' and ran 50' and also propagated/remotely triggered two small pockets 30' away. Did not ski steep north slopes with larger slabs. The largest slide on south was 100'x50'x1.5' and ran 200-300' - storm snow on top of a crust - skier triggered it intentionally, and it took the skier for a small ride. Very small failures on small rolls.