Round Top

We went to Round Top to find smooth snow surfaces for riding and observe where the wind had deposited the snow earlier in the week.  We rode a north facing aspect at 10,100'.  It was surprisingly cold, fast and fun; on supportable wind compacted surfaces.  It was 56 degrees and sunny for most of the morning. There appeared to be a solid refreeze from the night before. The snow was grippable and moist during the walk up. We found wind drifted pockets showing a 2-14 inch wind board that was easy to release in non-formal tests.  We did not see any recent evidence of instability on this layer. Most of the alpine terrain consisted of this firm wind compacted snow. A majority of the walk was through wet and temperature affected snow. Steep north aspects harbored cold and firm wind drifted snow. Most surfaces have been blown smooth and make for good riding. Snow depths (HS) ranged from 50-150 cm.  Ski pen (1-4cm) Boot pen (4-12cm).

The SW wind became calm and clouds that quickly filled the overhead sky.  The clouds trapped the heat under them and cooked the snow.  Surfaces that were cold quickly turned to hot pow.  Areas scoured to old frozen sun cups were now ridable and mushy. Firm wind board lost its structure and became punchy. The skin track was sticky and unsupportable. The clouds dissapated around 3pm but the damage had already been done; the snow had been microwaved.  After the rapid warming event, the top 15 cm (6 inches) of the snow was showing signs of temperature affect. 

We did not observe any wet loose instabilties today.  However with the amount of heat and the rapid warming caused by the cloud cover, it was a consistent thought that wet loose instabilties might becomes more active.  The boot pen increased to boot top height within 2 hrs in lower elevations. It appeared like the alpine terrain was too wind pressed and lacked enough soft surface snow for a signficant wet loose to start.  Timing with these snow conditions is key to having a fun ride down. Be patient and specifc with your timing.