Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackMax Strotbeck · Jan 7, 2025 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Beautiful, cold day. Few clouds with light east winds that approached moderate towards the summit. Temperatures may not have climbed above single digits near the summit. No new snow.
Snowpack
Below ≈9,000 feet on low-angled slopes, the snowpack is thin (60-70cm), and much of the fallen timber is just barely covered by snow. I continuously triggered moderate collapsing as I traversed these flat and low-angled slopes, both in forested and in open areas. As I ascended the southwest ridge, the downed trees became less and less evident. I did not experience any collapsing, though this was not surprising given the distribution of the persistent slab problem. As I entered the near tree line elevations (which on Farwell is above 10,000-10,400ft), snow coverage was variable. As per usual on Farwell, the W-SW-S aspects are wind blasted at this elevation. HS was around 55cm. As I wrapped north, HS eclipsed 100cm in some areas, and towards the summit HS was pretty consistently around 100cm, plus or minus 15cm. Where the snowpack was shallower I triggered an occasional minor collapse. I found the height of the storm snow from 1/4-1/6 to be 23cm in more protected areas near tree line, and 18cm closer to 8,000 feet. Where I dug into the snow on a wind-loaded east aspect just east of the summit, HS was 220cm. I did not see propagation within the new snow or below in an extended column test here. Where I dug a snow pit near tree line on a northwest aspect with some previous wind effect, I found the height of snow to be 130cm. Buried 70cm down were surface hoar crystals, our primary layer of concern. An extended column test did not show propagation anywhere within this snow pit.