Observation Date: 12/16/2019
Route/Location:
Camas Peak, southern Bitterroots. Tough to get there because of the lack of snow below 6500′.
Weather:
Cold! Single digits, moderate W winds, but clear and beautiful.
Wind:
light to moderate west winds, moving a little snow, but mostly creating cold wind chill
New Snow: 12+”
Avalanche Activity:
no, but we did not any steep north facing slopes
Other Comments:
Snow pit below on a SE aspect is representative of the complex snowpack on all aspects. Although an ECT produced no propagation, there were at least three good shears noted. The most disturbing is probably the lower one above the crust/frozen snow, with about 30” of snow above it–that’s a lot of weight. Other aspects probably vary in the details, but probably all have similar, complex structure, with numerous buried weak layers. We did not observe any avalanches, but we did not get a look at any steep north aspects either. We experience some localized collapses. We did not trust the snowpack one bit, and stayed on terrain less than 32 degrees, but there is nothing wrong with that!
Observer: J Lonn, Janiec