Zone: Southeast Mountains
Location: RLG
Date of Observation: 12/15/2020
Name: Kye, Marko, Owen, Finn, Ross graduating class of 2020
Subject: variable conditions
Aspect: South, South West
Elevation: 11,000 to the valley floor
Avalanches:
Hard to see the surrounding mountains at times due to weather but some activity was seen in the form of old crowns on steeper terrain in wind blown areas. Looks like some of these released during the last snow. No activity was observed in the RLG zone.
Weather: Cold and windy in the valley bottom. Looked like it was ripping down the valley, 20mph because winds were light at the goal posts.
Overcast and lightly snowing. The solar didn’t seem to be affecting the snow that much. Wind higher on the ridge tops looked to be transporting snow.
Snowpack: Super variable in the glades. A mixed bag of crusts, facets and new snow on top of ground. Depths ranged from 6-8 inches to 2 feet depending on elevation, aspect and wind loaded zones. Some areas had a supportable crust, while other shaded areas had facets at the ground. Lower in the fields large collapses were felt with shooting cracks observed, no movement seen due to the lack of slope angle. No avalanche activity was observed. The most dangerous part of the day was hitting obstacles. Its a mixed bag in RLG and it will be interesting to see how this pans out as we get more snow load