Pro Field Report

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
January 4, 2022
Submitted:
January 4, 2022
Observer:
SAC - VandenBos (off duty)
Zone or Region:
Galena Summit and Eastern Mtns
Location:
Galena Peak (7,300-9,600')

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches? 
None Observed
Cracking? 
Isolated
Collapsing? 
None Experienced
Cracking in freshly deposited wind slabs.

Snow Stability

Stability Rating: 
Fair
Confidence in Rating: 
Stability Trend: 
Worsening

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Obscured
Wind:
Moderate , NW

Moderate to strong gusty winds blowing out of the NW.

Avalanche Observations

None observed, but I had very limited visibility.

Snowpack Observations

Shaded middle elevations: HS=120-130cm, 12/11 down 90-100cm. October snow is ~30cm thick here, capped with a 5cm icy lid that is glued to the bottom of the overlying slab. Beneath this, a 3-5cm thick layer of 3-5mm DH grains sits on top of another icy crust. This layer of DH produced ECTP 29 and 30 and CPST 23 and 40/100 END. DH grains have lost some striations and edges to the cups but still aren't pretty. Where I dug, mid pack facets were present, but were very small, packed into the overlying slab, and produced no concerning test results.

Sunny middle elevations: HS=90cm, no October snow present where I dug. I did not find crusts at the mid-pack interfaces but I'm fairly certain you have to be on a slope greater than about 32 or 33 in order to find these. I have not been looking at snowpack in avalanche terrain but hand-pitting around on small test slopes has revealed the presence of these layers. These layers likely produced the large natural avalanche that occurred on Eureka Peak last week.

Winds were moving a good bit of snow but were no building large slabs at middle elevations thanks to their gusty nature.