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Professional Observation

       

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
December 21, 2021
Submitted:
December 21, 2021
Observer:
Chris Engelhardt | ESAC Forecaster
Zone or Region:
Bishop Creek
Location:
Table Mountain - Bardini Canyon

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches? 
None Observed
Cracking? 
None Experienced
Collapsing? 
None Experienced

Snow Stability

Stability Rating: 
Very Good
Confidence in Rating: 
High
Stability Trend: 
Steady

Key Points

  • Very shallow, wind affected conditions with minimal coverage up to 9800ft except for cross-loaded north aspects on gully features.
  • Snow in lower elevations below 9800ft from Dec 13/14 storm is faceting and is weak, variable surface conditions between soft, breakable crust and supportable thin wind panels.
  • Weak overall structure of snowpack, but dormant and non-reactive currently.
  • Need more snow in the zone below 10,000ft, before legitimate skiing/riding comes into play.

Media

Ascent up Table Mountain from 4-Jeffery Campground

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Clear
Temperature:
38F
Wind:
Light , SW

Clear, gorgeous day with light sw winds. Quite warm, 38F @ 1030 am at 9900ft.

Snowpack Observations

I toured up from 4-Jeffery campground in the SF of Bishop Creek up  Table Mountain and Bardini Canyon. Although there was enough snow to skin on and travel, I can’t recommend this zone for riding just yet. Although there is decent coverage, it is quite shallow throughout until you reach 9800ft or so. The shallow snowpack below 10000ft is comprised of the snowfall from Dec 13/14 and averages around 30-40cm in depth and is mostly faceted and has terrible panels of breakable crust and in places supportable wind board.  I gingerly made my way down the east side of the mountain into the SF Bishop Creek community by utilizing the cross loaded drifted ribbons of snow on the northerly aspects of gully features to somewhat safely make it down. Snow depths increased in more sheltered terrain in trees around 10000ft. Here there was ~85cm of snow. There was 55cm of snow from the December storms sitting on 30cm of hollow, faceted snow at the base from the big October storm. Although the snowpack is relatively dormant without energy right now, I did get hard to moderate results on compression tests (CT26 @29cm Q2 & CT13 @29cm Q2) at the interface between the facets and last weeks storm at 29cm from ground. I could not get an Extended Column test to propagate on 2 attempts (ECTX x2).

So although unlikely to slide and unreactive at the moment, there is this upside down snowpack structure with a robust 45cm 4Finger -1Finger Slab sitting on loose 30cm Fist+ faceted snow at the base. This is why we have maintained the “Persistent slab” problem on the advisories just to keep this bad layering in mind and  keep some focus on it until we get a new load and see what transpires when we hopefully get the projected significant snowfall this week over Christmas.

Terrain Use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVlvAbb5FYk

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