Location: Brush Creek Area
Date of Observation: 01/30/2020
Name: Tom Schaefer
Subject: Friends Hut Obs.
Aspect: East, South East, South, South West, West
Elevation: 9000-12000
Avalanches: Observed one small shallow wind slab 50′ X 100′ that ran sometime the night or morning of the 30/31 off Carbonate peak SE aspect 12,200′.
Weather: Clear becoming OVC over three days with a trace of snow the night of the 30th. Temps averaged in the teens with moderate winds at lower elevations and strong N winds aloft.
Snowpack: Lower elevations had an avg HS around 60-90 cm’s. Generally a very weak faceted snow pack with sun crusts forming on solar aspects. Snow surfaces remained cold and dry. Snow bridges up to hut in good shape.
Higher elevations in Star basin was a mixed bag that was becoming ravaged by the winds up high. Skied W-S-E aspects. Only observed snow pack lower in the basin avoiding the winds up high. Looked like lots of sastrugi ATL. NTL HS ranged from 60-130 cm’s. No signs of instability observed. W aspect weak faceted snow pack , S aspect pretty much the same with several weak crust layers mixed in there, E aspects pretty much the same? Surface hoar observed in sheltered shady areas NTL.