BNSF Avalanche Safety Field Observations

Went on an early season hike yesterday to work on the Shed 11 weather station and to check out the developing snowpack. Traveled up and down the ridge that divides the Shed 11 and Shed 10.7 avalanche paths on the south face of Running Rabbit Mountain. Our high point was the weather station at 6400 feet.

• Mostly cloudy skies, no precipitation, and light NW winds. Air temperatures hovered in the high-teens °F above 6000 feet.
• No avalanche activity observed and no real avalanche concerns at this time as the snowpack is still quite thin.
• Below 5500 feet there was typically less than 15-20 cm of snow on the ground. Above that elevation snow depths increased to 25-40 cm. Snowpack consisted mostly of low-density soft snow.
• Found a few very small, isolated wind slabs on exposed locations along the ridge. These were typically 50-80 cm thick and un-reactive – no cracking or any signs of instability.
• Definitely need some more snow before we’ll be skiing in the Program Area.