Here are a few more photos to supplement Andy Moderow’s observation from our field day on the Sunburst
ridge at Turnagain Pass.
In short, we found 6-8″ of new medium density ‘sticky’ snow that has fallen in the past 24 hours on top of a 1-3cm
stout rain crust from Nov 18. The strong Easterly winds have widely distributed the new snow into drifts and slabs
of variable thicknesses.
Fresh wind slabs were stubborn and only very fresh cornices were breaking underfoot (see video). No shooting
cracks or whoomphing. No new avalanche activity was seen, including no debris piles seen in the usual haunts.
However visibility was somewhat limited in the upper alpine.
Snow line is roughly 1500-1700′. Moist to dry snow exists above 2,000′ 1-3′ deep.
See Andy’s observation for the complete report:
http://www.cnfaic.org/observations/fotogallery.php?id=p2927&year=&map=&month=
This is the first 'real' snowpit of the 2014/15 season - very exciting!!
Pondering the snow-line and what the future holds
Snow depth at 2000' is roughly 12" with the top 4-5 of those new moist snow
The small fresh cornices on the lower flank of the Sunburst ridge were fairly sensitive right underfoot
My ski - very luckily found at 1700' in the alders after being blown over and rocketing down 1000' from our snowpits at 2700' - oops...