Dug two pits at Bacon Rind today. Very similar snow structures in both. Shallow and weak but not unstable.
Skied a number of laps in the southern meadows and out the skillet at the end of the day. No signs of instability were noted. Skiing was pretty good.
Rode from Targhee Pass to the weather station on Lionhead Ridge to do some maintenance. Didn't have time for formal snowpack observations, but did get a look at how things are developing.
Snow depth was around 2 ft (in line with Madison Plateau SNOTEL reading), with some thicker drifts and slightly thinner on sunny slopes. Snowpack mostly consisted of snowfall from the past two weeks and didn’t seem to have faceted too much yet. Did find 6" of facets at the ground on one shady slope. Still lots of rocks and bushes showing, but the snowpack was mostly supportable to a snowmobile on the flats.
No avalanches or signs of instability observed.
From email: "We noted one recent slab avalanche today on a NE aspect of Mt. Henderson, around 10,000. We were skiing nearby on Nov. 11-12 and did not notice this slide, but that may have simply missed it (that slope becomes shaded by about noon this time of year and there was lots of wind affected snow in that area.)"
From email: "Saw a recent slab avalanche today on a NE aspect of Mt. Henderson, around 10,000. We were skiing nearby on Nov. 11-12 and did not notice this slide, but that may have simply missed it (that slope becomes shaded by about noon this time of year and there was lots of wind affected snow in that area.)" Photo: B. Fredlund
First tour out in Hyalite today and thought I'd share some quick data I gathered from the Lick Creek saddle.
50-60cm of snow out there with hardly any wind effect on it.
The quick pit I dug was:
0-25cm F 1-1.5mm faceting rounds
25-27 1F solar crust (easily broken)
27-43 4F 1mm rounds
43-55 F new snow
Cheers!
