Steamboat & Flat Tops

Snowpack

Brian Gardel · Dec 6, 2020 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Beautiful bluebird day with calm, clear conditions, and mild temps rising to near/above freezing levels. 25F at Dry Lake trailhead at 9am, 35F at Summit Lake at 2pm.

Snowpack

The snowpack on Buff is super shallow, faceted, and largely lacking slab properties. Did, however, manage to find a strong supportable 30-40cm thick mid-pack layer (4f-1f) on North-facing terrain just below treeline. Observed surface hoar developing, a 1cm+ melt-freeze layer buried 20cm down (solar aspects), and a thin surface zipper crust (solar aspects). No signs of activity, no cracking, no collapsing. Hasty pit produced results on NNW 10,700': HS 80cm, ECTP16 SC @ 70cm failing on basal facet layer