Quick report
Sam and I rode into the Old Ski Bowl today and found generally stable avalanche conditions. This morning, frozen snow surfaces extended up to 8,000 feet, with cold, dense snow above. By the afternoon snow surfaces softened, releasing roller balls on sunlit aspect but provided better riding conditions near and below treeline. Up to 9,500 feet, there is no snow available for wind transport, though we saw some moving near 13,000 feet. We inspected various wind loaded aspects above treeline and found a continuation of yesterday's trend: soft snow becoming progressively firmer as you go deeper into the snowpack. What this means is that with additional snowfall on the way, our primary concern will be the new/old snow interface that is currently on the surface.
The only sign of instability observed was a one to two-day-old natural wind slab avalanche on a northeast aspect of Green Butte near 9,000 feet. We presume the trigger of this avalanche was because of cornice fall.Weather
- Air Temp
- 18-38
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- N/O
- Recent Snowfall
- N/O
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Morning temperatures were chilly in the mid to upper teens but by mid-afternoon they were in the upper 30s to low 40s. East, southeast wind blew light with an occasional moderate to strong gust up to 35 mi/hr. Low clouds temporarily obscured visibility, but overall the sun was shining through and warming above treeline snow surfaces.