Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheMax Strotbeck · Feb 23, 2025 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
Near-freezing temperatures with few clouds. Winds were light from the southwest near treeline, but stronger above treeline where I could see light blowing snow. No new snow.
Snowpack
On northeast through east through southeast slopes near treeline, I found the height of snow to range from 135-170cm. The upper half of the snowpack was generally right-side-up with various firmer, thin wind-packed layers intermixed, while the bottom half was mostly faceted and weak, with some rounding occurring that was more evident on southeast aspects. The layer of concern is where these two halves meet, a layer of facets buried 65-85cm down which I found in the two pits I dug on ENE and SE aspects. While I did not see results on this layer in snowpack instability tests, it is comprised of a persistent grain, buried less than a meter deep, and lies immediately below harder snow, so I would expect with a heavy enough trigger (like a snowmobile or wind-drifted snow) or by finding a shallow area on the slope, an avalanche would occur on this layer. While I viewed it from a distance, I suspect the avalanche I observed just below ridgeline did fail on this layer. Ski penetration was about 15cm below treeline and 5-10cm near treeline.
Avalanche
From a distance, I saw one recent avalanche on an east aspect at 12,000 feet just below ridgeline.