Grand Mesa
SnowpackBrandon Levy · Feb 5, 2020 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Cold North wind was light with moderate gusts and slightly increasing throughout the morning. Scattered clouds and cold temperatures below or near freezing.
Snowpack
The recent snow since last mitigation mission settled to about 20cms or 8-9" and is largely composed of near-surface faceted grains on the North facing slopes near and above the Cliffs. The 1/8 layer of near surface facets is still a visible stripe in the profile wall and has a thin slab above which was touched with AE on 1/17/2020. Moderate sudden results in small column tests and moderate non-propagating results were observed on the near-surface facets from 1/8. This layer showed signs of rounding. There has been some cross-loading in the lower paths (Cliffs #0-#2). Depth hoar is still a lurking concern in shallower locations like the profile site. However, for the most part the snowpack on this North facing slope was faceted except for the thin slab below the surface snow.