Grand Mesa
SnowpackBrian McCall · Mar 18, 2011 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Valley fog present for most of the first half of the day. Broke above clouds at around 7500ft. Upper level wind strong from the southwest all day. Skies cleared to just a few clouds by late afternoon.
Snowpack
On south facing terrain near and below treeline, Thursday nights new snow rested on a 13cm thick melt freeze crust. This crust was supportive on foot, skis, and snowmobile. A few small wet loose snow avalanches did occur as the afternoon progressed involving only the new snow.Upper 40 cm of the snowpack contained a mix of crusts with layers of faceted grains in between. Facets were rounding from recent mild temperatures. Lower 1 meter of the snowpack still contained moist snow from warm temperatures mid week. A mild day with strong radiation will quickly create an entirely wet snowpack on these sunny aspects. North facing slopes of the Grand Mesa had an average of about 2m snowpack depth. 23 cm of new storm snow was well bonded to old surface where I traveled. Old surface was a 3cm thick melt freeze crust. January 9th and 17th surface hoar layers still present in the snowpack 90 and 105 cm below the surface. Would take a very large load or a shallow spot in the snowpack to trigger them, but these weak layers are still a concern.