Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Feb 10, 2018 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

Weather

Traveled below treeline and the wind was calm. No evidence of wind loading in adjacent areas but visibility was poor. 4 inches of new snow as of 3 PM.

Snowpack

New snow seemed to well bond to old snow surfaces. The new snow was right side up and was not forming a slab.--- I looked at the snowpack on northeast and east aspects, below treeline. Elevation was between 8800 and 9800 feet. The snow depth (HS) was between 100 to 140 cms. Ski pen. was only a few inches as the slab is supportable to skis. The structure consists of a 2 to 3 foot one-finger hardness slab over four-finger to one-finger hard depth hoar and facets. As with many other areas, the weakest snow is at the top of the depth hoar layer. In a few tests I received moderate to hard propagating results on this weak layer. The snowpack in this area is thinner and weaker than areas higher up on Rabbit Ears Pass. The depth hoar is not as large and as well-developed as adjacent zones though.---Skiing through a low-angle open meadow I heard a collapse. I dug down on this east-facing slope and I got a very clean propagating result on small facets above a melt-freeze crust. This weak layer is 18 inches from the surface. This is the only place I found this structure.