Utah Avalanche Center

Did not dig to ground.

Fx profile from 1/11 large natural avalanche

Fewer layers seen in this pit compared to lower elevations in Silver Fork. Weakest snow is the new snow of large, fragile stellars. When we got above treeline in an area with just a little wind, the new snow sluffed very easy and ran far distances. More snow and more wind overnight will mean more dry loose avalanches and sensitive wind slabs.

Some Surface Hoar found at 160 cm but very hard to find. We dug another pit on a NW aspect at 7900 ft and found nearly identical stratigrahpy and test results. The only difference was that there were no ice crusts. Facets under the ice crust at 160 cm have no load. The weakest snow at the moment are the fragile stellar crystals in the new snow. Some stellars are 6mm in size. Some are rimed.

General profile: in some areas, either a thin mf crust or thin wind crust separates the surface facets from the few inches of low density snow.

Focus on surface snow with incoming storms.