Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Apr 14, 2019 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Increasing clouds and light snowfall crept in around 1pm. Ridgetop winds were steady out of the W. Felt like a warm and humid winter storm. Snowed S-1 through the tour.
Snowpack
Driving through the zone, the Flat Tops and Rabbit Ears Pass areas both looked wintry and were holding a good amount of snow. With the recent coating of fresh snow, it was hard to tell it is the middle of April. Up on Baker Mountain, all aspects below 9500' were moist within the recent snow. Above 9500' on north aspects, there was 4" of new snow that was staying cold and dry. However, when I crested back to the east face, the recent snow was moist all the way to the summit. I dug a quick pit on an east aspect near the summit at 9800' and found 7-10cm of moist new snow sitting on a 30cm melt/freeze crust that was barely frozen. Below this M/F crust, the snowpack is a fairly homogeneous block of moist grains. The most interesting observation is the new snow is not bonding well to the old crust and easily shed below my skis creating some small loose wet avalanches.
Avalanche
I triggered a few small Loose Wet "sluffs" with ski cuts along the main face where it steepens up. The new snow easily shed from the slightly harder crust below.