Utah Avalanche Center

We dug in two places. Left and right side of bowl. One side (NE facing) was shaded and more protected and I figured we would find the surface hoar there. On the other side, with E exposure and more sun exposure, I didn't think we'd find it but the surface hoar actually had bigger crystals and produced easier results (this pit).

Warm air temperatures and moist surface snow on all aspects, continued warmth and rain possible (likely) this weekend.

Pit was about 100' from a slide that was remotely triggered on a steeper slope 4 days ago - Jan 27. Snowpack layers below 100 cm were well bonded.

triggered a large woompf

Triggered by second skier who was caught but not buried or injured. Snowpack on this west side of the ridge was remarkably weaker and faceted below 90 cm compared to the east side. Not really an issue b/c the surface hoar layer is the weakest layer and the main problem. We had only one very small collapse the entire time we were out. I thought there would be more.

Surface hoar stripe was very obvious. If there were no surface hoar, this would be a stable snowpack and the only problem would be upside down storm snow which is hardly a problem at this point.