Pro Field Report

Basic Information

Observation Date:

January 6, 2020 - January 8, 2020

Submitted:

January 8, 2020

Observer:

Pro

Zone or Region:

Soldier and Wood River Valley Mtns

Location:

Soldier Mountain Cat Skiing area, 8,000' SE to NE aspects

Recent Avalanches?

None Observed

Cracking?

Isolated

Collapsing?

None Experienced

We have been working hard to get the area open for cat skiing. Numerous pits and explosives. What I'm finding is a new surface hoar layer buried 25-30cm below the most recent snow. It was visible on the surface a few days ago and now it is failing on my tests. CT11Q2 and ECT12NPQ2. Today we honored Scott Savage's request and took packs of explosives with us. My largest concern is Nose Bowl, an E facing bowl that wraps from SE to NE at 8,000' in the starting zone. To try to get an answer we threw a couple 4lb. charges into the starting zone which produced only minor cracking. No settling. I'm still concerned about the snowpack around 8K especially as the ridges wrap around to the Northern aspects. But nothing seems to be moving other than surface wind slabs around here. 24 pounds of explosives and nothing has stepped down.

Stability Rating:

Fair

Confidence in Rating:

High

Stability Trend:

Steady

I'm still waiting for something to give. Our pits are showing weaknesses but our explosives are not. We are starting to run trips and the skiing is very good where the wind left us some snow, but I'm not skiing or undercutting any of our larger paths yet. The storms this weekend will be interesting.