Wind transport at JFS

Toured near JFS canyon to monitor wind slab formation.

• We observed signs of fresh wind slab formation including blowing snow from moderate to strong winds, skin tracks getting filled in, and areas of denser/deeper feeling snow. A few test slopes produced cracking up to 5’ long. However, slabs were thin (up to 8”), soft, and isolated across the terrain that we traveled in.
• We felt comfortable skiing steep terrain, while being wary of wind loaded features in terrain where the consequences of a small wind slab could be trouble.
• There is about 3" of dense, wind affected snow overlying crusts or settled powder from last week. Even in sheltered areas, the winds had affected the snow surface.