Tamarack Peak Observations

Location Name: 
East Ridge Tamarack Peak
Region: 
Mount Rose Area
Date and time of observation: 
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 13:15
Location Map: 
United States
39° 18' 46.6236" N, 119° 54' 43.0884" W
See map: Google Maps
US


Red Flags: 
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks, or collapsing
Recent loading by new snow, wind, or rain
Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

1-5'' of new snow depending on where the wind was blowing the new snow.  There were still old tracks that you could see in most areas from the last week of clear weather.  A very small wind slab was forming in the most wind loaded areas with some minor cracking and small shooting cracks.  Hand pits in these areas showed an easy shear at the new snow/old snow interface-all of these forming wind slabs were very small, 1-4'' and didn't pose any problem for backcountry users at that time.  Cornices were just starting to have some build out from the new snow and wind.  

I did a quick test pit at 9300' elevation.  This showed the same weakness with the new storm snow and also showed some shears above and below a P hard crust, 15-20cm thick, below the old snow surface.  None of these layers, including the new storm snow, showed any signs of propagation with the ECT or PST-see snow profile data.

At 9700', N aspect, 36 degree slope, I did 2 ECT's, see video.  I had 1 ECTP-30 down 40cm on top of the P hard crust.  The crust was very planar but did have some resistance to the column sliding, RP.  The other ECT was very close but did not fully propagate within the 30 loading steps.  At this slightly higher elevation the P hard crust was thiner and no weakness was found below the crust. Conditions and visibility at this point were deteriorating and data collection was becoming limited.   

Photo: Very small slab easy to kick off in steep wind loaded terrain off ridgeline, 9600', north aspect.

Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Snowpack photos: 
Snowpit videos (tests, etc): 

mt rose2011 01 11 003

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: 
Warming
Wind Direction: 
Southwest
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
More detailed information about the weather: 

Light snowfall started around 11am.  Transportation of snow was limited by the amount of new snow falling, most ridges and fetches were already scoured and firm.  By mid afternoon snowfall increased and much more transportation of wind blown snow was observed.