Zone: Northwest Mountains
Location: Upper Slate
Date of Observation: 11/24/2020
Name: Eric Murrow & Evan Ross
Subject: Upper Slate
Aspect: North East, East
Elevation: 9,500-11,200
Weather: A few light snow showers with little more accumulation, mostly cloudy sky, light winds with snow plumes at times off the high peaks.
Snowpack: Total new snow accumulations decreased the further up the Slate we traveled. In the Upper Slate, the new snow depth averaged 4 to 5″ :{ No instabilities were encountered.
On NE facing slopes below 10,500ft, the snowpack was right side up with a 5cm layer of moist facets on the ground. HS at 10,000ft was about 60cm. Climbing above 10,500, the HS increased slightly into the mid-70s. A sheltered test site at about 10,700 had an HS of 75. The main different from the lower elevation locations is that the thin layer of October facets on the ground wasn’t moist. An ECTP 24 was recorded at this site. That same snowpack structure was variable as we later probed across the slope.
On the East facing slopes traveled between 11,200 and 10,500ft, the new snow was bonded well to the crust below. That crust was supportable to skis. Small facets were observed below the crust in one location.
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- Right-side up snowpack on a thin layer of moist facets. 10,400ft NE
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- ECTP 25 on the thin layer of October Facets. 10,700ft NE. That SP structure was not continues across this slope.
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- Blowing snow on Baldy Mountain
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- 11,000ft, East Aspect. New snow unreactive on the old snow surface.
