Steamboat & Flat Tops
SnowpackDan Edmiston · Mar 24, 2019 · Steamboat & Flat Tops
Weather
early afternoon tour, storm moved in around 1:30pm with some wind a little loading (no more than an inch), snow surface prior to storm was warm and skins were getting wet. Snow surface after front moved in was cold and skin wax would have made travel much easier.
Snowpack
Temps at Dry Lake snotel site haven't spent much time below freezing since the morning of 3/20. Upper half of the 80-120cm deep snowpack is wet on south facing aspects. Goal of skiing steep south aspects was called off when boot penetration increased from ankle to mid-thigh depth mid-day on Sunday. CT failed CTH21 down 20cms on a refrozen slab from the mild overnight freeze. ECTP14 on that same layer. Below the 20cm slab was another 20cms of large (5-10mm) grains that did not re-freeze and were about fist hard. They easily sloughed out of the pit wall after CT and ECT collapse. The grains were not wet enough to wring water out of but I wouldn't consider them to be dry snow either. The below treeline, south facing snow is probably going to wet full depth over the next several days. Poor overnight freezes are not giving me great confidence in the stability on southerly slopes. North slopes have a thin temperature crust and might have some decent ski quality on these warm days as that temp crust thaws out.