Snow Observations List

Performed Stability test on Henderson Mountain today. Elevation 9600', SW facing slope. HS 85cm, New Snow 20cm. Of Note, 1mm Rounding/Moist Facets at ground with 1CM Melt Freeze Crust 60cm from surface. 1mm Facets on either side of MFcr. ECTN 6 at new/old snow interface and ECTN25 on MFcr 60cm down. Generally pretty good looking snowpack for November 24. No collapsing or cracking of the snowpack and no recent avalanche activity observed.

Localized collapsing and cracking yesterday on the upper slopes of Mt. Henderson, SW aspects.  HS ranged from about 30-75cms.  

Snowpit attached from a SW aspect about 9700', HS 50cms, ECTN9 @ 22cms (1-2mm facets above MF crust).

Flew from Paradise Valley to Cody and saw large plumes of our snowpack moving off of the peaks and getting transported from strong winds which were more southerly in the western part of the range and westerly around Cooke. Evidence of heavy cross loading across Sheep mountain (pictures) and the whole range, I didn’t see any evidence of avalanche activity. 

From obs: "I’ve been skiing the Erma Road recently. Good conditions for a quick ski up the road by but it’s thin off the road. The 616 trail is too treacherous for my comfort zone. I think the Republic Creek alpine valley must be skiable though. Quick observation:a sun crust formed in the open areas on the road and on adjacent areas."

Early season conditions. At 8000' just below the Sacajawea trail bowl, there is about 9" of snow. In the trail bowl, winds moved that snow around and there is nice firm, supportable (ie - not hitting rocks) snow. 
 

Warm weather really settled the snow and it became damp today on many sun exposed slopes. It stayed dry and cold on high north. 
 

Overall, the things seem quite stable, even though there may be a wind slab or two that could still avalanche. 
 

Drove up Lulu Pass road 1/4 mile from hwy 212. There was 7-8" of snow that fell since November 1 on previously snow-free southerly facing meadows around 8,100'. 

From e-mail: "Photo attached from near top of hyalite peak yesterday eve , 11/2. Cracking in recent hard wind slab, I had to really jump hard to make this. Walked on many other hard slabs that were well bonded. Highly variable snowpack. I think you'd be most likely to get into trouble by popping out a small hard slab pocket like this and getting magic carpeted into some thinly covered terrain."

Screenshots of webcams throughout the forecast area show new snow and snow cover on November 1. Snowfall last night dropped 2-8" throughout the forecast area.

-AM

1-3 mm faceting in front of the Montage. Clear skys and mid 20 temps