Steamboat & Flat Tops
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Jan 6, 2015 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
warm , calm. Went from mostly clear to mostly cloudy between 10am and 1pm.
Snowpack
E and NE aspects near and BTL. Avg HS 120-130cm. This area has noticeably less rain crust formation. Just barely evident. Could feel it, but so thin unformed could not pick it up. Top 20cm, F snow from recent storm snow. Then 30cm of 4F soft slab over 5cm of 2mm facets (Dec rain crust now replaced w facets). Another 20cm thick 4F slab over Noc rain crust, which has 2 cm of 2mm facets above and below crust. Different than SW and W aspects, the bottom 20-30cm of the spx is 2mm depth hoar and 4F hardness....see the potential of failures to ground here. Very warm today, rapid settlement in top 20cm. Tree bombs all day and settlement cones.
Avalanche
some wet loose (D1) on rocky S slopes on Rabbit Ears. 41F in Steamboat at 3pm.