Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Dan Edmiston · Apr 17, 2020 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Bluebird skies but a little chilly at TH and a light SW wind. Topped out at ~10,200ft for the day and didn't have much wind effect from the storm. Sun was starting to impact the new snow by the time we exited the field about 1pm. Snow surface on any sunny aspect will likely be junk for tomorrow.

Snowpack

Storm snow ended up close to 45-50cms for North Routt. Top 10cms was slabby as a result of high moisture content that froze up overnight a little heavier than underlying snow. Didn't impact ride quality much. A couple CTs broke on the new/old interface, (CTH RP down 50cms). ECTN 25 on that same new/old interface. Heavy solar gain was negatively impacting ride quality between laps. I would expect that snow quality moving into the weekend would be breakable crust. New snow was sluffing on steep rollers with ski cuts. Wind effect was visible on adjacent peaks but we did not find any on the immediate surfaces we skied.

Avalanche

A few small point releases on steep northeast aspects. General surface sluffs in extreme terrain. Nothing larger than D1.