Wind, Warming, Weather Stations (oh and snow too)!

Quick report

It was a serene scene arriving at Kakwa Tuesday night with frigid temps and new light fluffy snow. Incremental snowfall continued the next couple of days, but rapid warming and moderate to strong southwest winds formed fresh and reactive storm slabs. This kept us out of the alpine and away from avalanche terrain, but with endless deep untouched and sheltered meadows and tree riding to choose from, we didn’t mind one single bit!

Snowpack

Obs Type

summary

Site Elevation Band

tln, btl

Between 1450-1850 m we found an average snowpack depths of 160 cm. There was between 35-55 cm of new snow building a slab over a thin crust that disappeared around 1800 m. We were on the hunt for old surface hoar layers, but didn’t find any in the locations we checked. The lower snowpack is still made up of sugary faceted crystals that we are not quite ready to trust, especially in places where the snowpack is thinner.