Quick report
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Some small point releases, sluffing, and few skier-triggered D1 littered across the face of Mt. Aire on N through E. Not much for red flags under the skis today, though rapid warming was observed on our exit.</p>
Another great day on skis in a banner year. Pulled up to Lambs after noon to find a stunning amount of vehicles parked at the trailhead, up the ramp, and all the way under the bridge. Really pronounced gradient in snowfall from the lower elevation trailhead to the ridgelines. Happy to find quite a bit less snow than in the upper cottonwoods, making for a much more managable day out in the terrain and a few more options for skiing. Seems like folks really got after it on Aire proper, as wall-to-wall, nearly every shot had tracks in it, from the mild to the wild.
A few of those skiers appeared to trigger small D1s but not much in the way of appreciable activity otherwise as we continued to hear explosive work ongoing in the neighboring canyons. Absolutely excellent skiing was had in zones with a little less skier pressure, blower up top, though could feel the impacts of warming temps on lower elevations and where solars got roasted from time to time with breaks in the clouds earlier in the day.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Concerns going into the day were new snow given the High danger rating for the Salt Lake zone, though found significantly less over on the Mt. Aire side. Terrain more exposed to the SW/NW flow overnight may have seen more wind impacts, but there was little to be found in the more sheltered slopes we skied. New snow issues were manageable with little more than sluffing observed.</p>
Generally dry, consolidated new snow that appears to have fallen upright during the Saturday night storm period. Significant variability in HN from trailhead (~2" high density) to ridgeline (~10" low/medium density). Little in the way of wind affected snow along our route. By 3PM, lower elevations were wetting out even in shaded areas as temps warmed significantly under the lowering cloud deck. Started to develop a zipper crust down low, especially on now clouded-over solars.