Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Key Points

We got in and out of Bishop Creek this morning before the storm hit.

We dug a test pit just above the Bishop Creek road to look at the structure the storm will be loading. We found the persistent slab structure and got propagating test results at 7900 feet on a northeast aspect. (See profile and video)

We probed our way around several aspects up to 9000 feet and found the persistent weak layer down 40 to 110 cm below variable surfaces on west, north, and east aspects. We found wet snow on east and southeast slopes steeper than 25 degrees. We found hard windboard, sastrugi, or dry soft wind-stripped snow on northeast, north, northwest, and west-facing slopes. Some windward aspects near and below treeline have been stripped to the ground or melted to dirt. There’s continuous snow cover down to the road above about 7500 feet.

Once we saw the crest get socked in and winds increase around noon we boogied on out of there and back down to town.