Cold and cloudy in the parking lot, with valley clouds up to around 1000'. Partly cloudy with high clouds once we got out of the valley. Winds were dead calm while we were out.
Observation: Portage / Placer
Location: Squirrel Flats
We rode up to the Squirrel Flats area above the Placer Valley today on a hunt for the buried weak layers we saw on Seattle Ridge yesterday. We saw evidence of some big avalanches from last week’s storm, but did not find any concerning persistent weak layers in either of the two pits we dug. While this is encouraging, it is important to keep in mind this zone has seen way less traffic than other popular areas like Turnagain Pass so we might not be getting the full picture just yet.
Weather
Snow surface
Snow surfaces had big wind textures, with around a foot of soft snow on top. A new round of small surface hoar currently sitting right on the surface.
Snowpack
We dug two pits on the same slopes that had widespread activity during the 1/3 storm event, an area which we suspected might be harboring surface hoar and/or facets. We were pleasantly surpirsed to not find either of those in either of our pits. We did not get any alarming stability test results (ECTX) Total snow depth was around 7 feet deep at 2300'. See attached snowpit profile for detailed snowpack notes.
This avalanche on Comet was the biggest recent avalanche we saw today. 01.10.2024
Fresh round of surface hoar on the surface today. 01.10.2024
Getting up above the cloud this morning. 01.10.2024
We love winter. 01.10.2024
Snowpit profile. 01.10.2024