Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Jan 25, 2023 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

Weather

Skies were mostly clear on the east side of the pass and up to the trailhead in the morning. Clouds increased quickly with intermittent snow showers during the day. There wasn't any accumulation while we were out. New snow from last night was 4 to 6 inches. Isolated light wind loading observed but overall winds were light.

Snowpack

The snowpack in this area averages about 2 meters deep. Depths measured probing varied from 185 to 235 cm. The snowpack is strong and most of the snowpack is progressively harder from top to bottom. The bottom 20 to 30 cm consists of relatively weaker, but not all that weak, faceted snow. We did not observe any signs of unstable snow and it seems like basal layers are put to bed for now.---Concerns for the future are around a shallowly buried melt-freeze crust with small facets beneath. This crust is 4 to 8 inches from the surface and right now, there is no slab on top of it. On any slope that faces a bit more east than southeast, the crust is really thin and fragile, so this is most concerning with a future load. On more south-facing aspects the crust is thick and it is less likely to cause future issues. With heavy snow forecast for Thursday evening through Saturday morning, coupled with westerly winds, east to southeast-facing slopes could become reactive especially with wind loading.