Snow pack on Waterhouse

Location Name: 
Waterhouse
Region: 
Luther Pass Area (including Job and Freel)
Date and time of observation: 
Mon, 03/14/2016 - 10:00
Location Map: 
United States
38° 46' 37.0488" N, 119° 57' 47.4948" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Recent avalanche activity
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Generally soft snow with variable densities on waterhouse, skiied a little upside down and grabby, with widespread (small) wind slabs and lots of evident snow transport.  Active winds throughout the tour with notable gusting and shifting.

We dug a pit beneath a wind lip near the summit and not suprisingly identified reactive wind slabs at 25cm and at 76cm from the surface.  We saw some cracks and a couple of small slabs cut in below treeline as well, indicating wider distribution of wind slabs than just near ridgelines.   A small and insignificant skiier triggered slab fractured and propagated 15-20ft with a crown of 6-8" and slid about 20 feet over a covexity about 1/3 of the way down in a small open area.

SNowpit at 9468ft, NE, 33 degrees:
ECTP2 @ 25cm density change (4F to 1F), no notable facets on the failure
ECTP22 @ 76 cm another density change in storm snow, no facets
Crust layer was aroudn 100cm at this test slope
I was unable to get this same test slope to slide with ski cuts and stomping above it, in spite of reactive pit results

Video #1:
ECTP2 at 25 cm

Video #2:
Wind action at the base
 

 

 

Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

ECTP2 at waterhouse 3/14/16

Wind transport at WH

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Strong
Precipitation: 
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
More detailed information about the weather: