Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Eric Haskell · Jan 4, 2020 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Few cloud, light N winds w/ no snow transport, snow warming on south, lots of new snow in trees.

Snowpack

Surface hoar in pit on N aspect @ 9500'. Failed on CTH with sudden planar shear and propagated during ECT #22. Both were 50cm down in snowpack under most recent storm's snow. 40cm of 2mm basal facets were unreactive to testing but may have been due to depth, pencil hard mid-pack and lack of proper test. See pit. Midpack looked strong and right-side up except for basal facets. Multiple collapses while walking uphill and skiing downhill on SW and W slopes. Snowpack looked unremarkable in pit on south.

Avalanche

Road cuts with snowcat and test slopes failed on surface hoar on N slopes in very small pockets.