Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheMax Strotbeck · Dec 26, 2023 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Skies were overcast during my time touring from 10am-3:30pm. It was snowing <1cm-1cm/hour until about noon, and then stopped. Temperatures were cold, 8° Fahrenheit when I left the car and did not get much warmer throughout the day as I rose in elevation. Wind was light from the west and southwest BTL, and moderate from the west ATL on the summit ridge.
Snowpack
The Hahns Peak area received about 20cm (8in) of new snow from our most recent storm. Height of snow ranged from 73cm on a west aspect at 9500ft to 165cm on a wind-loaded northeast aspect at 10500ft near the summit ridge. In extended column tests on west and north aspects, the basal weak layer was unreactive. Non-propagating results occurred at the new/old snow interface on both aspects. I found a layer of mixed form and buried surface hoar crystals just below the new storm snow on a north aspect. This is not the same layer of surface hoar buried earlier in December found further south in the Park Range. Near the summit ridgeline, I did not observe any snow being transported. The windward (west) side of the ridge was heavily scoured, as is typical on Hahns Peak. The leeward (east) side did not have any sizeable cornices built-up. During the limited amount of walking I did on east aspects just below ridgeline, the snow felt like it had windslab-like characteristics, and there was minor cracking around my skis and I felt a collapse when traversing a shallower area about 85cm in depth.
Avalanche
I did not observe any avalanches today.