Bunny Flat/Old Ski Bowl

From Bunny Flat, humans and machines must navigate about 30 to 50 yards of dirt before reaching continuous snow coverage (see photos). Snow is melting fast at lower elevations, especially on southerly aspects. In the Old Ski Bowl, coverage remains consistent across all aspects, but shallowly buried obstacles are beginning to emerge.

Last night's refreeze at the Old Ski Bowl (7,600 feet) - the first sub-freezing temperatures in over two weeks - added strength to the upper snowpack (see annotated photo). The only signs of instability were two small, recent cornice failures on Green Butte Ridge. Snow surfaces on southerly aspects softened up to 10,000 feet by 1pm. 

Climbers in Avalanche Gulch reported strong winds and falling rime ice above Helen Lake (10,500 feet). Shedding rime ice from the Trinity Chutes and Red Banks will be an upper mountain hazard in the coming days, along with rockfall and icy surfaces with slide-for-life potential. 

Two small cornice failures on east and southeast aspects on Green Butte Ridge (see Avalanches below). These possibly failed yesterday (March 25th) after a very poor overnight refreeze.