Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Went for a little tour in the Lakes Basin to get my legs back under me. Now that there is enough snow to access the local backcountry and the stoke level is high. One concern is the Persistent Slab that showed up on the forecast. Traditionally the way to track a Persistent Slab Problem is to dig a profile and perform some tests. Today I didn't have time to dig, but I did probe snow depth and felt for the facets with my probe. Snow depths in the Lakes Basin were between 50 and 150cm with the deeper totals in the most sheltered locations.

When there is weak snow from earlier in the season under all the fresh it is important to keep terrain low angle. So that is what I did. Maybe as confidence increases, the season progresses and concerns about facets go away then it will be time to go for it. There is plenty of skiing and riding yet to come!

Field Weather Observations:
Location: Barrett Lake
Time: 1330
Elevation: 9300
Aspect: NE
Sky: FEW
Tair/surf/20: 2.0/-8.0/-9.0
Precip: No
Wind: C
Blow Snow: None
Surface Form/Size: DF/0.5 FC/0.5
HST: 30cm
HS: 149cm
Pen Boot/Pen: Ski 45cm/10cm

Signs of Unstable Snow