Observations from Carson Pass

Location Name: 
Elephant's Back
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 04/07/2011 - 19:59
Location Map: 
United States
38° 40' 47.2116" N, 119° 58' 59.5524" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

Soft wind slab just beginning to develop late in the afternoon along Frog Lake Ridge and Elephant's Back. Cracking limited to 1m in length, and 15cm in depth, and only occured immediately below ridgelines. More than 5m below ridgelines, no cracking observed.

Similarly, several very recent loose snow avalanches were observed on Elephant's Back with natural cornice drop triggers. A few of these had distinct 15-20cm crowns, but just below crowns the avalanches behaved as loose snow avalanches, not slab. These ran 50-75% of E face of Elephant's Back in both length and width, but were quite shallow and presented no danger.

20-30cm of new snow in areas sheltered from wind, much of which was rimed / small graupel, and was bonding well to old snow - especially considering difference in hand hardness.

Pit: Dug in undisturbed snow between recent slides, and just below level of crowns, where no propagation was observed. MFC layer only probed, as I coudn't break through it with my shovel.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
Yes
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Moderate
Precipitation: 
Snow
Air temperature trend: 
Static
Wind Direction: 
West
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Snowfall intensity seemed to be decreasing upon my departure just before 5pm.