Observation: American Fork

I dug in an area of relative shelter to isolate the snowpack from the wind problems. I found relative stability and a surprisingly fat graupel layer from 20230313 I believe. The column failed with forceful shovel shear on the graupel layer.

I traveled to upper Tibble Fork today and skied on a north facing sheltered slope. riding and turning conditions were good. Snow, as of my 2:30p departure, had not taken on too much heat, though I suspect that changed this afternoon. I tried my best to tickle buried wind slabs on steep, undulating test slopes with no luck. It would seem that the tapering of winds provided a chance for things to settle a bit. Westerly slopes featured a forgiving, supportable base with a shallow stack of dendrites on top, while sheltered or lee slopes were right side up, creamy, and deep. I did find a few areas with slight inversion, likely caused by wind indensification.