Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackDan Gilchrist ยท Feb 25, 2012
Weather
24+" of light snow, brief sun and warming that afternoon (monday), followed by 10" of heavy snow, and then rain / wet snow wednesday with 2-4" of light on top wednesday night.. Sunny and high 20's when observations were made yesterday.
Snowpack
Top of canyon: Slight crust between light monday snow, and heavy snow. C4 / Q1 @ 25cm, on 20-25 degree slope. C14 / Q1 @ 70cm, same slope, bottom of monday snow, graupel / facet layer. Middle of canyon: Extended column test showed no probigation. Some very hard, pencil layers, mixed in there from wind events. Lots of depth hoar. Now the ugly stuff: The whole canyon pretty much slid. I skied it tuesday and it was blower. Myself and a couple of patrol friends checked it out yesterday. Most everything slid Wednesday into Wednesday night. 4' fractures in the trees everywhere. Sliding on 1" crust above the depth hoar that somehow supported it. October snow? Mature trees were taken out, 6-8" trees snapped in many locations, and some branched on trees were broken 15' plus high. Some of the holes in the creek probably have 40' of snow in them. There is also evidence that some slides made it up the other side in spots. The good part is most of the traverse to, from area, stuff slid. New Frontier, North wall, Boulder Field all slid. Granola Bowl did not slide, but there is a report of some cracking, so maybe with the flat run out the tension is gone. It also has seen some skier compaction. My biggest concern is the Bowling Alley area, which did not look like it had slid. It is the biggest path out there.