Wind slab over facets

Wind slab over facets

Date
Activity
Snowboarding

We toured up to the bacon rind ridge, descended a southwest aspect, and then headed over and up to the Ernie Miller Ridge.

In sheltered locations, there was approximately 15 cm of storm snow from Sunday into Monday.  

On an east-southeast aspect off of Ernie Miller between approximately 9000-9700', we found widespread 20-25 cm thick 1F wind slab sitting on 1 mm facets. The slab was moderately resistant in hand shears and remained intact once isolated. It was not reactive to our jumping on small test slopes. We observed no cracking during our ascent and saw no signs of reactivity during our descent.

Above approximately 9700', the surface was largely scoured and there was a thin wind skin.  

We observed similar facets below the storm snow on our ascent of a southwest aspect between 8000-8700' on the way back up to the bacon rind ridge.   

Region
Southern Madison
Location (from list)
Ernie Miller Ridge
Observer Name
Josh Lipkowitz