Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackJason Konigsberg ยท Dec 28, 2016
Weather
Snow started early this morning and persisted throughout the day snowing an inch an hour for most of the day. Snow total from 5 AM to 5 PM at the Columbine SNOTEL is ~10" with .7" snow-water-equivalent. The wind was strong out of the west as forecast. The terrain that I was in was sheltered from westerly winds.
Snowpack
The snowpack in this area of the Steamboat zone is similar to other areas of the zone in depth and structure. Several quick pits revealed a lack of faceted snow near the ground and an overall depth of about 140 cms. There was the same thin faceted layer at about 40cms from the surface that was found in other areas of the zone. The results on this layer were also the same...easy to moderate compression test results with no propagation in extended column tests...One snowpit on a southerly aspect showed the most interesting snowpack structure of the last 3 days. Two very thin melt/freeze crusts at about 20 and 40 cms from the surface with obvious faceting around and especially underneath the crusts. The slope angle I dug at was in the low twenties. It would be interesting to know if the crust thickness and structure is similar on steeper south aspects.