Observation type
Snowpack Observer Allen Giernet Keep me anonymous if published no Location (general area) Mt. Baden Powell north face Date (yyyymmdd) 20130303 Time 1:30pm Road conditions to area clear and dry Temperature 2°c Sky Broken clouds (4/8 but not all) Wind speed Moderate (17-25mph Small trees sway/ flags stretched) Wind direction NW Slope aspect North Slope angle 38° Elevation 8900' Snow depth 30cm Boot/ Ski penetration 1.5cm Precipitation None Activity, recent avalanches yes Brief description two wet slides on NW aspect about 7000'+ at least a day or two old Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, collapsing no Rapid warming yes Obvious avalanche path no Terrain trap yes Comment Wet slides were observed on the drive to parking on the NW aspect of the drainage above the parking area approximately at 7000' probably a day or two old Snow varied on climb up from thin crusty on ice. At about 7500' coverage became more consistent and deeper with crusty snow on facets. Looked like a slab turning into a melt freeze layer due to the recent warming. At 8500' or so snow was deeper and had some areas of soft snow in sheltered treed areas with hard crusts interspersed. with more depth there was a definite wind slab consolidating on facets that were on a crust then solid snow below (just did a couple of quick hand pits here) There were sings all over the slope of wind loading in various areas and wind crusts in others. Wind slabs had developed on mostly northern aspects but were not restricted to those areas as the wind had obviously been influenced by the terrain. In the main drainage I saw at least one loose snow slide very small observed from a distance. At 8900' area noted above we were in a clearing with a pretty solid melt freeze crust slab on top. here is the profile from top down: 30cm deep 4cm 1F slab melt freeze 1.5mm rounding grains 7cm 4F Facets 2mm .5cm ice crust 18cm 4F facets 2mm+ 1 cm ice at bottom Temp profile: surface 0°c 10cm ⇓ -2°c 20cm ⇓ -2.5°c ground 0°c 1 stability test - ECT X Was barely able to get a chunk to move while prying hard with the shovel. I did not have time to perform test in another area. At 2:15pm on the way down around 7500' we initiated a couple of small wet slides on a due north aspect in a treed area. Obviously due to the rapid warming during the day these did not run very far mostly due to the fairly dense trees and ran on facets under the newer snow on a bed surface of the melt freeze about 4" to 6" down. Publish this observation Yes I would like this observation Published |