Steamboat & Flat Tops

Avalanche

Jason Konigsberg Matt Huber · Feb 18, 2020 · Steamboat & Flat Tops

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Weather

Above 10,000 feet temperatures remained in the teens for the duration of the trip. Skies were mostly clear with light west winds. Previous winds had drifted very light amounts of snow in the past 24 hours in the most exposed terrain.

Snowpack

We were able to aggressively test many steep, low-consequence slopes on various aspects with no shooting cracks or collapsing observed. The interface below the February 6 storm is stubborn with hard, propagating extended column test results on east and southeast-facing slopes, no results at this layer on a northeast-facing slope. Extended column tests produced easy propagating results in the recent storm snow and on a thin crust/facet combination about 30 centimeters below the surface on the southeast-facing slope. No results in any test in the depth hoar on any aspect.

Avalanche

Traveled ~ 40 miles. No avalanches observed old or new.