Grand Mesa
SnowpackColin Mitchell · Feb 13, 2015 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Beautiful, sunny day.
Snowpack
The snowpack above skyway point consists of various layers of different sized facets, with two pronounced layers of buried surface hoar, one down 5 cm and the other down 17 cm. The snow surface is crusted over in all but the shadiest aspects, like deep in the forest, behind tree islands, and in steep gullies. In most areas, the crust is capped by 5 mm surface hoar. The mid-pack slab is no longer supportable to boots and is 1F facets. The most concerning layer is the 20 mm SH buried around 17 cm down. It was not reactive to tests, but this was likely due to the inability to initiate a propagating fracture in the soft snow above this layer. Tests were unremarkable CT23 and CT24 Q3 on the basal facets. ECTN 23 on basal facets, also very rough break. Overall snow supply in this area was low. Island lake area is below threshold for avalanches.