Grand Mesa

Snowpack

Matt Huber · Feb 29, 2020 · Grand Mesa

Weather

Warm and sunny with increasing clouds in the afternoon. Very light southwest winds, snow surface on all aspects is crusted and not available for transport.

Snowpack

The snowpack in this portion of the Grand Mesa remains thin, less than 4 feet at the snow stake near Skyway Point. A 3-5 centimeter thick crust can be found on most snow surfaces, although on northerlies it is more of a temperature-crusted wind-board. Below the semi-supportable surface on northerlies, the snowpack is completely faceted with barely palpable resistance differences, between 4 finger and 1 finger-. On south facing slopes, the upper snowpack is made up of crust/ facet combinations. The most reactive is about 20 cm from the surface, with easy propagating Exteneded Column Tests ECTP5. No other results could be forced out from the mid to lower snowpack