Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheBrian Gardel · Jan 13, 2023 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Skies were sunny with high clouds and warm temperatures reaching near freezing levels at ridgeline. Winds were calm.
Snowpack
HS on NW-NE NTL ranges 220-280 cm, with leeward slopes exceeding 300 cm. The snow surface on shaded aspects consists of 2-4mm surface hoar resting on a supportable upper pack. Meanwhile solar aspects turned and expecting a MF crust to form overnight. We didn't identify any persistent layers buried in the upper meter of the snowpack. Our pits on NW-NE aspects NTL had the mid and lower pack consisting of primarily small rounds, with our 2-4mm thick Xmas Eve crust buried approximately 1.5 meters down and the 6-8mm crust from Nov 5 located 2.5 meters down. Both crusts remain stout and unreactive in stability tests. We observed no cracking or collapsing, and had no propagating results in our ECT tests on the right side of Wounded Knee and left and right sides of EBUT.
Avalanche
Steep North facing terrain is cross loaded from the Jan 9-12 storm. Steep South facing terrain had natural pinwheels and rollerballs below rock band features below 9500 feet.