Snow Observations List

Toured up to the top of PK this morning to check out the fresh snow and see if we could eek out some early season turns. Cold temps to start the day with some light to moderate wind out of the NW and evidence that the wind was certainly blowing snow around during the storm over the past 24 hours or so. Did not see any significantly developed slabs in a multitude of hand pits at mid elevations, but noticed a relatively consistent 2-4 inch denser layer (from the wind) on top of the softer snow below. 

From email: "A little bbowl storm skiing for me yesterday afternoon/evening. Measured 20-25cm settled storm snow at base area and 35-40cm at mid and upper mountain. Very graupel-rich storm, with lots of rimed stellars too. Winds were blowing from the N across the lower mountain and up to the top of bridger, then I got into the calm "detachment zone" with light winds for the rest of the way. Lots of relatively soft wind slab formation going on, maximum encountered slab depth was 30-40cm. Localized cracking in these drifts, and some subtle, muffled collapsing.

I found a variable amount of "older" snow underneath the new snow, not from the Oct 17-18th storm, but from earlier this week. This was absent at the base but increased to a variable 5-20 cm on easterly aspects on mid/upper mountain."

Avalanche observed on Chico Baldy above Mill Creek in Paradise Valley.  East aspect at about 9400'. Possibly a wind slab but hard to tell

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'. 

Triggered a small wind slab:

-9600'

-N aspect on the NW ridge of Sphinx Mountain 

-Strong SW wind

-Noticed other small crowns, likely triggered from another party traversing the north-facing bowl at similar elevations

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

From e-mail: "I went for a quick run up to Blackmore yesterday afternoon/eve (10/21) to have a look at the snow.

Brief summary: 

-snow on SSE-S-SW-W had melted off completely, but as soon as I wrapped to SE or NW there was still an appreciable amount of snow, with dry gaps forming between snow patches. 

-E-NE-N (and flat terrain) had settled HS of 15-20cm at 8,500' and 25-30cm by 9,500'. The snow here formed a thick blanket over the terrain, covering/smoothing a lot of the roughness. All of the snow I encountered had either an ambient melt-freeze crust on the surface (thin, pencil hard), or a thicker sun crust (depending on aspect, a bit thicker, pencil hard). Presumably these crusts had melted during the day (and the previous days) but were already refreezing by late afternoon. Underneath the crusts the snow was dense, moist to wet, and quite homogenous, though I could make out some graupel grains without obvious layering at the upper end of my traveled elevation (summit, ~10,150').

-Right now the snow on the ground looks lovely! Moist/wet, dense, homogenous, filling in terrain roughness, etc. As it sits, this would make an excellent base. There is a lot of potential for strong gradients and facet development at/near the surficial crust, but the temps have been so mild that this hasn't been an issue yet (where I observed the snow). Looking into the future, we may get colder temps next week and a dusting of snow on top of the current snow... this would be a great way to turn a nicely developing base into an ugly weak layer, but only time will tell...  As far as skiability goes, a lot of the terrain that is holding snow now would quickly become skiable with a decent storm on top. Still dangerous from rocks/stumps/etc, but definitely skiable. 

-Ice: I didn't go into the main fork, but based on observations it seemed like it has been too warm for much/any ice to be forming. Tons of water moving through the landscape though, just need some cold. Also, there is a ton of snow down on the Sphinx (marginal photo below), I bet that comes in quickly when we get overnight freezes."