Grand Mesa
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 24, 2017 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Overcast with a little blue sky peeking through. Cold. A couple of snow squalls were blowing around the Mesa and the North Fork valley, but no snow fell during the observation period.
Snowpack
Little change since my last visit, other than a few inches of fresh snow. Settlement in the old snow has pretty much stopped, and the HS at the study plot is staying steady at around 74". No water moving through the snow on shady aspects at this point. The 1/19 surface hoar layer was visible in the pit, but was not reactive to CT or ECT. I did get some Q2-3 fractures at each of the crusts shown in the profile with 10-20 taps. The main concern remains the buried surface hoar. It is now about 60 cm down, and below a thick hard slab. Any avalanche on this layer would likely be quite destructive and hard to escape. It is worth noting that explosive control done on the 22nd and 24th of January did not produce any results on this layer. Also, there were quite a few recent tracks on the Island Lake paths from snowmachiners highmarking the slopes. These observations, along with the lack of test results when targeting the SH layer, increase my confidence that triggering an avalanche on this layer would only be possible in isolated areas, or maybe not at all.
Avalanche
No activity observed