Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackMax Strotbeck · Dec 8, 2025 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Overcast skies becoming scattered by mid-afternoon. Calm to light west winds in the morning picked up by mid-afternoon, becoming more consistent and increased in speed. Still, I saw little transport of new snow. Temperatures in the mid-twenties. No new snow.
Snowpack
Ascending from Dry Lake, I sunk through the shallow, 50cm snowpack nearly to the ground with most steps in my skis. With the ample vegetation exposed and lack of a slab, I was not concerned about avalanches. As I got to around the 9,000 foot mark, the slab became thicker. Skinning became more supportable with ski penetration about 15cm, though boot penetration was still to the ground. On north and northeast aspects observed around 9,000-9,500 feet, I found the height of snow to be around 65-85cm. The basal facet layer is thin (10-19cm) and the facets relatively small. Aside from one moderate collapse while traversing a northeast-facing slope, I experienced no cracking or collapsing walking around. However, while decreasing in sensitivity this layer is still suspect. Extended column tests resulted in propagating fractures with moderate taps on this layer on these aspects. On west and south aspects observed within the same elevation band, I did not find a persistent weak layer of concern. Prior to the storms that started after Thanksgiving, there was zero to only a couple centimeters of snow on these more solar aspects. The 55-65cm of snow I found on these slopes now does not harbor much weak snow near the ground. I did not experience the storm slab problem that was forecasted for today. There was less new snow than expected overnight (only 7-8cm) and I did not see any propagating fractures within the newer snow since the weekend (about the top 60cm of snow) in the three extended columns tests I performed on various aspects.