Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Mar 31, 2022 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Mostly clear and warm this morning. High clouds covered the sky by 2 PM.

Snowpack

Old wet snow problems were non-existent. Surface crusts were firm and hard. There is still wet snow lower down in the snowpack but it seems to be freezing up from the top down and not an issue. There were new loose wet snow issues today on east and southeast-facing slopes. I intentionally triggered several avalanches by pushing on the snow with skis. These avalanches were not big enough to bury a person but they entrained enough mass to be hard to escape and twist knees. The problem was the ~6 inches of new snow heating up from the sun and sliding easily on a slick crust. I also observed widespread surface hoar today. It is unlikely to be a problem when buried on any slopes that got baked today but it seemed like it was persevering on due north-facing slopes. When I observed the surface hoar in the morning, it was standing tall. Greenhousing this afternoon may have helped to melt it.---I also dug around on several slopes looking at the reactivity of our old persistent problem related to facets buried in mid-Feb. Any sunny slope has a very thick crust, with a consolidating snowpack, and no persistent issues. This includes east near 10,500 ft which is as close as you can get to near treeline in this area. I found a the buried faceted layer to be dry on due north-facing slopes. The upper melt-freeze crust was much thinner than I expected or non-existent. I got moderate propagating results 60 to 80 cm down on this layer. On northwest and northeast below treeline this layer is moist and sometimes has perc columns going through it. Regardless, I was still able to get a few propagating results. Overall the slab has strengthened above this layer with the recent warming, and it would be hard to affect the layer below, especially on northwest and northeast where this 2 inch thick crust underneath the new snow. It's still something to watch out for though, although unlikely to trigger an avalanche on, not impossible.