Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Dec 19, 2017 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

Weather

Skies were mostly clear with calm winds in the morning. Winds increased in the afternoon from the southwest. No wind transport was observed.

Snowpack

I traveled on north to east through south slopes today to evaluate the structure of the snowpack. I wanted to know what weak layers we would have to worry about with an incoming storm. The one thing I saw in common on all slopes was a very weak snow surface. Surface hoar was prominent on all slopes and this surface hoar was sitting on top of near-surface facets (NSF). There was a much harder layer beneath the NSF. If we get enough snow to form a slab, we will likely see avalanches on this layer. There is the possibility of any new snow avalanche to step down to one of the several buried weak layers on north through east slopes. Although I didn't find an overly weak snowpack on north slopes compared to adjacent zones, there is still weak mid-pack layers that would collapse with a decent load. Southerly slopes are thin and I did not find any concerning persistent weak layers besides the weak surface snow.