Observation: White Baldy

100 inches at Alta means the high alpine is filling in so it was time for a trip to White Baldy, in Red Pine Gulch. Most of the alpine terrain in Red Pine is wind damaged pretty bad but a few cold clear nights would break down the wind slabs and wind skin and make it more enjoyable. The snow pack on the face of White Baldy seemed fairly stable with a dense and deep base, there are a few weaknesses deep in the pack but I think it would be tough for the weight of a person to activate these layers, wind slabs were my main concern today but I didn’t run into any reactive ones. I think the wet activity was put on hold today by clouds, cold temperatures and a cold N wind. The wet avalanches on the N side of LCC are quite impressive with a few almost hitting the road.

photos: recent wet slides on the N side of LCC including Little Pine, wet activity in Red Pine, and a shot of White Baldy with the upper half of the slope covered in rime.

The snow on N facing White Baldy was a combination of a rime crust up high, covering all the granite boulders, and the slope above 10,000ft probably from the moist clouds in the AM. Decomposing wind slabs and wind skin and allot of graupel, on the rest of the slope. Skiable but not super relaxing, meaning you had to keep on top of your boards.