Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Mt. Owen
Date of Observation: 11/18/2020
Name: Zach Guy
Subject: Mooiiist snow
Aspect: North, North East, East, South East
Elevation: 10,500 – 12,800′
Avalanches:
No recent activity
Weather: Unusually warm temps. Strong SW winds but no snow transport. Scattered clouds.
Snowpack: We found good stability on various aspects. On the southern half of the compass, the snow surface was moist or wet from warm temps, often isothermal through the whole snowpack. Expect a crust of varying thickness going into the weekend. Northerly aspects hold dry snow, a mix of softer sastrugi and wind-packed rounds on the surface. No notable persistent weak layers on the surface at the moment thanks to abusive winds and sun, and a generally a homogenous 4-finger snowpack from surface to ground on all but due north aspects. On a NNE aspect, we found the 11/6 facet layer lurking below 70 cm of slab, but it was discontinuous due to talus on the ground. It did not produce concerning pit results or signs of instabilities. We skied steep terrain on both north and east aspects with no instabilities.
Photos:
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- Relatively strong, homogenous snowpack on high, easterly aspects.
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- Melt-freeze crusts forming on the southern half of the compass thanks to unusually warm weather.
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- 11/6 facets exist on northerly aspects but unreactive in tests here.
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- Snow coverage on SE aspects near Lake Irwin
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- Minimal snow on windward aspects. This photo shows westerly and southwesterly aspects
