Peagravel Ridge

Today I toured Peagravel Ridge to observe how the sun had affected the new snow across different aspects. Below treeline, I observed a half-inch layer of surface hoar that had formed overnight. Up to about 5,800 feet, on West through South aspects, the surface hoar was sitting on a thin and breakable sun crust.

As I made my way up the ridgeline and above treeline, I came to a section where a large chunk of cornice had collapsed above an east-facing slope. I do not know if it was human-triggered or natural but there were several large-boulder-sized pieces of ice strewn across the slope below. Across the drainage on Gnarl Ridge, there were rollerballs and small (D .5) wet-loose avalanches from the intense solar heating yesterday. 

I skied the upper bowl with an ENE aspect. The ski quality was fantastic; The snow was dry and the crust was nowhere to be found. I continued to the top of Peagravel Ridge at 7,750 feet and skied a south aspect to exit around 1 pm. The snow on the exit run was dense and grabby from the sun but I was able to observe the deep avalanche gauge through the bottom of Heather Canyon.

I did a moving tour today and did not do a snow profile. I observed a half-inch layer of surface hoar at lower and middle elevations that had formed overnight due to the cold and clear conditions. On West through South aspects, this surface hoar was sitting on a thin and breakable sun crust. On solar aspects at upper elevations, there was lots of evidence of surface instabilities in the form of rollerballs and wet loose avalanches from yesterday.