Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Snow Stability

Key Points

Went for a scenic snow slide today up McGee creek and most the way up the wineglass couloir stem.  Here are a few observations from the tour:

• No signs of snowpack instability seen on the tour
• Rockfall hazard is considerable during these warm days with plenty of signs of recent rocks falling down the couloir and surrounding mountains.  Best to wear a helmet and limit your time in the catchment/runout areas
• Some small sections of walking were required on the road and trail to make it to the base of the wineglass couloir(2 or 3 300ft sections)
• Trace amounts of new snow from the storm a week ago was visible mainly on north facing terrain at all elevations traveled
• Snow within the stem of the couloir remained wintery with a few small sections of inch deep windslab but was primarily a smooth dense edgeable chalky texture(HN of 105cm at 9100 feet, very dense hard to probe snow)
• Snow in the base of McGee creek is in the transition phase and anything with even a micro south aspect had a melt freeze crust on it
• Around 1 pm snow on the road and south aspects had 1-2cm of soft snow from the solar radiation/warm temps of the day with a supportable crust underneath
• There is still a decently thick snow bridge in the runout of the wineglass couloir path for crossing the creek easily, other areas looked much more challenging
• Beautiful weather/mountains/scenery and neat to have the valley to myself after a busy weekend working on the mountain