Observation Date: 11/20/2011

Route/Location:
Up MF jaco to trailhead, then up road/trail to ridge just east of Deep creek. Down south facing meadows back to road and out.

Weather:
Mostly cloudy. Temps low 20s.

Wind:
Light.

New Snow: 0-3″

Snow DensityThe mass of snow per unit volume, but often expressed as a percent water content. New fallen powder has a low densityThe mass of snow per unit volume, but often expressed as a percent water content. New fallen powder has a low density (3-10%), while heavy or wet snow is more dense (10-20%). (3-10%), while heavy or wet snow is more dense (10-20%).: Light

Avalanche Activity:
No natural activity observed. No cracking or collapsingWhumpf has actually been adopted as a technical avalanche term to describe the sound of a collapsing snowpack when you cross the snow. A sign of instability. . We dug a pit around 6,500 ft on a SE facing slope, 38 deg, open meadow, no obvious wind effect. Total snow depth was about 3′. Test results were: ECTN (no propogation) 10 at 6″, ECTN18 at 18″, ECTP (clean shear across the collum) 30+ about 6″ above the ground (failure on facetsAngular snow with poor bonding created from large temperature gradients within the snowpack.). There was about 4″ of strong and well frozen facetsAngular snow with poor bonding created from large temperature gradients within the snowpack. on the ground which did not fail.

We felt comfortable skiing steep slopes in the trees, but were unwilling to commit to steep open terrain.

Other Comments:

Observer: Brian Story