Observation type
Snowpack

Observer
Anonymous

Keep me anonymous if published
yes

Location (general area)
Eastern San Gabriels

Latitude

Longitude

Date (yyyymmdd)
20230115

Time
0700

Road conditions to area
clear

Temperature
25F

Sky
Overcast (sky covered)

Wind speed
Moderate (17-25mph Small trees sway/ flags stretched)

Wind direction
S

Wind direction in degrees

Slope aspect
North West

Aspect in degrees

Slope angle

Elevation
8200'

Snow depth
variable

Boot/ Ski penetration

Precipitation
Light 

Activity, recent avalanches
No

Brief description

Whumphing noises, shooting cracks. collapsing
no

Rapid warming
no

Obvious avalanche path
no

Terrain trap
no

Comment
Sunrise tour on 1-15-2023 with hopes of finding a few inches of soft snow above 8000ft were met instead with refrozen wintry mix, rime ice and breakable crust. Coverage above 7900ft was decent on NE to NW aspects, with evidence of snow transport apparent on steeper road cuts and behind fallen trees. Many NW slopes near the windward ridge were scraped down to a layer of boilerplate ice (see photo of rime rice on bush protruding through).

Stomping on a few test slopes yielded small failures a few cm deep on top of the rain crust yesterday's snow fell onto. Higher altitude, steeper, and/or slopes that received more snow will likely have more significant wind slab issues.

Overall, this storm was kind of a bust in the Eastern SG mountains, and consistent with this winter's theme of rain/wintry mix up to 7000' and above on many of our wettest storms. Fingers crossed the next system is colder, as advertised.

Publish this observation
Yes I would like this observation Published

rime ice

wind loading