Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackDan Edmiston · Feb 15, 2013 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Heading up Rabbit Ears the trees on the west side had some heavy snow with a little less snow on the trees along the top of the pass. Storm seemed to taper with the clouds going from over cast to broken. Snowfall tapered as well, but on the drive back to Steamboat the clouds moved back in and snow picked up. Some heavier windloading seen on the drive up but much less observed during tour.
Snowpack
NE facing snowpack on 35 degree slope was about 215cm. Depth on S facing aspect was about 160cm. Skin penetration during tour ranged from 35cm to nearly 70cm...hell of a skin track to lay down. Dug 170cm pit on NE aspect with some excellent progression of density for the first 130cm from less than fist hardness in the new fluffy stuff to 1F hardness at the bottom. The 40cms below that were 2mm facets a little softer than 1F hardness. Overall I didn't see much in the way of chunky facets in the NE facing pit. Very little reactivity on pit tests and no test slopes failed during tour. CTM12 sluffed off the top 40cms, so very little energy. Deeper taps knocked off the remaining column at 26 taps with an RP fracture 95cms down along the 4F/1F interface. SOUTH FACING pit showed a pretty sizeable crust about 85cms down but none of my test slopes showed any reactivity on this layer. No tests performed on the south facing pit. Mid pack crust was supportable for walking on but would occasionally break through with a pretty quick drop of another 60-80cms.