Submitted by: Bob
| Location: | Santa Fe Ski Area |
| Date: | Jan 19, 2010 | Temp (C): | -7 |
| Wind Speed: | 15 | Wind Direction: | NW |
I spent Tuesday morning doing avy control work at the Santa Fe ski area during the storm. We ran into a considerable amount of cracking, fracturing, and sliding, both natural and released by our ski cuts. About half to two-thirds of the slide paths we hit went either naturally or from our ski cuts.
The slides were semi-hard slabs with crowns about a foot deep. I didn't have time today to do a pit, but the slides were pretty much the new snow sliding on the bed of the very old snow. The wind picked up in the afternoon, so I'd expect windloading to be more severe tomorrow - 1/20/10.
All in all it was a pretty active cycle and I wouldn't expect things in uncontrolled terrain to settle down for a while, especially if we get more snow as predicted.
If you drive up to the ski area you're likely to see numerous spontaneous releases and slides along the road. It's a good time to be very careful in the backcountry around here.
I'll try to get a pit dug soon.