Quick report
- Red Flags
- Poor Snowpack Structure
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Skied nice powder overlying hard avalanche bed and debris below Woolly Hole, and decided to wait for solid (rather than simply bridged) foundation before skinning up any of the UFO bowls. Poor visibility prevented us from determining if bits of debris in those paths represented path-wide slides or just smaller side events. Other parties of skinners and sledders had no such hesitation, and they faired fine.</p>
Low density, feathery snow more reminiscent of woolly aphids than of any other form of precip.
Avalanched terrain allows a fret-free tour in avalanche terrain. In other words, choose a slope that has already avalanched for better odds of not taking a ride.
Snowpack
Similar snowpack to that seen in Central Wasatch, with a few adjustments. Total depths are lower, averaging perhaps 3' and measuring 85cm at the Timpanogos divide snotel site at 8,140'. The slab was strong enough to keep a snowbike (or sled) from sinking to facets, but in our mid-elevation northeast-facing pit it seemed softer than similar locations in the tricanyons. Additionally, some south aspects at low-to-mid elevations are missing the facet layer entirely: Early December snow probably fell on dry ground.
Surface was very low density powder on medium density powder: yum! Bit of a melt-freeze crust (presumably) on some south facing slopes.