Date of Observation: 02/26/2023
Name: Zach Guy
Zone: Southeast Mountains
Route Description: Targeting below treeline terrain in the shallowest parts of our forecast area. Looked at the snowpack on various aspects of Red Mountain and Point Lookout to about 9,800′
Observed avalanche activity: No
Weather: An inch or two of new snow fell today. I observed some light drifting on open, below treeline slopes.
Snowpack: I traveled in areas where the snowpack is less than about 4 feet deep. The slab is generally faceted, but I was able to produce one unstable result on deep weak layers (the 12/20 facet layer, below a 4F 80cm slab). The upper snowpack also has weak layers of concern, the largest and most developed is the late January facet layer, which is only buried 25 cm or less. I got a mix of propagating and non-propagating results on this layer, the most reactive results were on an ESE aspect. The slab above that layer is lacking or not well developed in most terrain, but this could be more of an issue with additional snowfall.
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- 9500′, NE aspect
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- Photo of snow profile. I conducted 4 ECTs on this slope. One of them produced unstable results
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- An unstable result on the January facets. Most tests on other aspects did not propagate on this layer.
