Blowing snow
Localized cracking in wind affected snow near the ridge
Possibly a crown in one of the north Manitoba chutes but visibility was limited.
Observation: Summit
Location: Manitoba
Standard route to 3200′ staying skinner’s left for the last couple 100′ to the ridge.
Raining from Girdwood to around 900′ at Turnagain Pass at 9am, with raining falling near Johnson Pass to the Hope Y before becoming snow again near Summit Lake. Snow line dropped on the drive home at 4 pm to around 500′ with heavy snow at T-pass and heavy rain from Eddies lot to Girdwood.
Observer Comments
Weather
Light snowfall throughout the day
NE winds 5-15 mph, gusty at times
Mid to high 20°Fs, 32° at the parking lot
Snow surface
1-2" of new snow. Very sticky below 1800'. Storm total: 10-12"
Wind affected snow near the ridge
Snowpack
We dug at 2000'. HS: 110, S aspect, 18° slope. The upper layers of snowpack were upside down with 5 cm of heavier snow over a couple of layers (20 cm) of light fluffy snow. Aside from the top 5 cm the new snow was not acting like slab. The 12.1 crust facet sandwich was 80 cm down. One CT 26 on a small layer of faceted melt-forms below the thin upper layer of crust, 4 other CTs had no results and we both had ECTX in our pits. Basal facets were moist and stuck together.
We dug again at 2450'. HS: 140, W aspect, 15° slope. 12.1 crust was 80 cm down and seemed very stuck in the snowpack. CTs were not failing here and we both had ECTX. 30 cm of storm snow was right side up with no slab and no failures in Shovel Tilt tests. Winds picked up while we were digging with the stop skiff of snow starting to stiffen. Basal facets were 1F hard and stuck together.
We skinned to 3200'. As we progressed into more wind affected terrain the surface snow became a bit stiffer with a wind crust/small slab cracking while skinning. The skin track from the group ahead of us was mostly filled back in towards the ridge. Small cornice on the ridge was getting loaded with the winds.
Snowpack @ 2000'. Note the 12.1 crust facet sandwich
Top layers of snow in shovel tilt @ 2000'
Sky cover
Snowpack @ 2450'
Skin track getting blown in
Cornice building on the ridge