Grand Mesa
AvalancheColin Mitchell ยท Jan 3, 2017
Weather
Overcast with high thin clouds and some blue sky showing through. Some intermittent snow flurries and light SW winds.
Snowpack
North aspects have poor structure and a conditionally unstable snowpack. A thick, P-hard slab rests on F-hard depth hoar. Snowpack tests revealed potential for failure and propagation, ECTP11 x 2 at the depth hoar/slab interface. A mid-pack weakness exists where graupel mixed with the recent new snow, ECTP11 down 15 cm. This layer did not fail on the second test. South aspects are also concerning. SW winds normally strip the south-facing slopes, but wet snow and strong SW winds with the last few storms have plastered the sandstone slopes of the cirque with 6-12" of snow. The snow surface is mostly slick windslab with some areas of NSF where wind stripped the snow. Wind slabs ranged from thin and breakable, to supportable to boots. Surface roughness has been significantly reduced on these slopes, and sluffs could run big and far.
Avalanche
None observed