Observation:

Location: Pastoral Area

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Sunburst Parking lot to Taylor Pass to Pastoral area (3700′)

Red Flags
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Observer Comments

None

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Temps: Single digits (F)
Wind: 10-15mph
Sky: Sunny, no cloud cover
Precip: None

Snow surface

1000' - 1500': 2-4" of snow coverage on crust, Skin track was okay, but had to hike a few sections
1500- 2000': 4" low density snow on hard crust, Skin track is firm.
2000' - 3000': Pockets of 6" faceting snow on firm base, pockets of breakable wind hardened snow
3000-3700': 8-10" of Variable surface conditions. Pockets of loose faceting snow in gullies and depressions, widespread areas of "punchy" wind hardened snow

Snowpack

Today's focus was on surface snow conditions in a variety of terrain. At lower elevations the snow was less affected by the winds from last weekend's storm and 4-6" of faceting snow was sitting on top of a firm crust. In the Alpine, above 2500' the surface snow varied depending on its exposure. Ridges and Pass were scoured or had very with dense Sastrugi. Protected gullies seemed to have the best low density powder snow and everything else had a 2" (1Finger hard) wind skin on top 6-8" of low density snow. We did not find any tender windslabs. Texture seemed to be an okay indicator of surface conditions, but not always. Overall the stability was good and so was the skiing.

Photos & Video
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