Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackMax Strotbeck · Jan 15, 2025 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Clear skies with calm to light southwest winds. Temperatures in the mid-teens. No new snow.
Snowpack
The snowpack is thin and upside down below tree line, making for arduous skinning conditions. I triggered multiple localized collapses not far from the trailhead where the snowpack was half a meter, and the thin slab was cohesive enough that I saw cracks up to fifteen feet from my skis, but this ceased once I got above 10,000 feet or so. Near tree line, a wind-buffed surface was supportable to ski travel. The north and northwest facing windward side of the ridgeline was very rocky and nearly devoid of snow. Where there was a bit more snow on north aspects I was able to trigger very small wind slabs on isolated terrain features that broke only a couple inches deep. The deepest area I probed on the northeast and east leeward side of the ridge was 150cm, but further off the ridge proper the height of snow on these aspects ranged from 80-115cm. Digging into the snow I found a 30-65cm wind-effected slab above weak facets, with a 1-3cm knife hard crust sandwiched between the faceted snow. Extended column tests on northeast and east aspects propagated with hard taps in the faceted snow immediately below this crust.