Relay Peak - Observations

Location Name: 
Relay Peak Recreation Area
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Thu, 02/23/2017 - 07:00
Location Map: 
United States
39° 19' 22.1448" N, 119° 56' 14.9532" W
See map: Google Maps
US


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

Deep.  Took a snowmobile into Relay Peak at 6:30am.  Calm wind with a broken sky, sunny at times.  Clouds came in at about 7:30 and hung around for the morning resulting in very low visability.  The unprotected, higher elevations, SW-N (over 9k) were effected by wind.  I dug a few hand pits throughout the area and found that the new snow was about 115-165cm deep, rightside up and generally stable in the areas I observed.  A few test slopes did not result in any cracking or slab activity even with the weight of a snowmobile.  

Photo 1 - Wind effect on a north aspect (sastrugi)

Photo 2 - large cornice lines on east facing aspect

Photo 3 - hand pit showing Fist hardness down about 30cm, 4 finger from 30 to 50 and 1 finger through the rest of the new snow. 4finger and 1finger layeres were wind broken particles.

Snowpack photos: 
Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
75% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Calm
Precipitation: 
None
Air temperature trend: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Accumulation rate: 
None
More detailed information about the weather: