Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Nov 28, 2023 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Clear, cool, and calm.
Snowpack
Ground cover is consistently covered with snow below treeeline at about 10k feet. The snow surface looks smooth on anything north of east. Most southerlies are snow-covered, but barely. Looking into the heart of the Flat Tops, with a zoom lens, southeast looks to have good coverage above treeline (see photo). I observed a snowpack generally 45 cm deep with drifted northerly terrain features up to 90 cm deep. On an east-northeast aspect, I found the basal faceted layer was 15 cm thick and I got an Extended Column Test result of ECTP1. When I stepped out of my snowpit, the slope collapsed. These were the most unstable results I found during my travels. I dug on some northerly slopes and did not get propagating results. This could be because the slab was softer than my first snowpit. The bottom line is, that although the basal layer is thin, we can expect avalanches breaking on this layer with a significant load. The good news is that the layer is thin, so if storms continue and we add a meter of snow in the next month, we could quickly turn the corner. But right now and with this next storm, avalanches will be easy to trigger.
Avalanche
Old avalanche on a steep, small, northerly terrain feature. Unknown if it was triggered by an elk from below.