Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Anonymous · Jan 9, 2022 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Trail head temps below zero @ 8am, warmed nicely during the day, topped out in the low 20's by mid day. Calm winds with light gusts out of the west at ridge tops. No blowing snow. Sun did not seem to affect snow surface

Snowpack

East face, 9400ft, HS 180cms. Snow was fairly strong and skied incredibly well. Mid-pack slab is 1 finger hard sitting on a mix of 1F/4F facets that are rounding. Storm snow from Wed/Thursday (120-165cm) was capped with a thin sun crust so that Saturday storm snow (top 15cm) moved fairly easily. CTEx2(Q2) down 15cm on thin sun crust, not much else was moving. No ECT completed. No wumphing/collapsing observed.

Avalanche

None observed. Had good visibility of steep and very steep terrain South, thru East, thru Northwest from 8200ft to 10800ft with no observed naturals. The Fingers zone south of Hahns Peak Lake was crawling with people skiing 35-40 degree east facing pitches @ 8400ft-9200ft with no slides triggered.