Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Rapid Warming
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>I'd be impressed to see a wind slab break loose today given how locked in things seemed, but cornices were definitely an option. They are well established on the Skyline ridge and across the Cutler Headwall, with some at least 5 feet tall. There appeared to be at least one recent cornice fall on the Headwall between Ben Lomond and Willard (cornice photos below).</p> <p>Also noteworthy is the rapid warming. There doesn't appear to have been much wet activity over the last couple days, but given the increasing temps and the shear amount of solar radiation, I imagine we'll see some kind of activity over the weekend.</p>
Quick pit SE 7700ft showing the stack of crusts on solar terrain (damp mixed forms between crusts). The surface crust was stout, supportive, slide for life, but yielded decent turns with heating.
Quick pit NW 7700ft showing the surface refreeze, a subsurface crust about 10cm down, and rightside up mixed forms beneath, damp enough to stick when making a fist.
Recent cornice fall from the Cutler Headwall, causing a small avalanche.
Very large cornices threatening the Chilly Peak steeps (N/NE).
Snowpack
There was a decent overnight surface freeze, about 5cm or so, basically across the board up to about 7800ft. Melt runnels were present across the compass up to a similar elevation. Above this, the wind effects are significant, with old skin tracks protuding above the surface as all the surrounding snow was stripped away. This mid/upper elevation surface has ice and/or melt-freeze crust atop the wind board.
The surface crust was generally supportive-ish, except in northerly terrain where supportability was much more variable. Given the recent winds, the warm temperatures, and the relatively high position of the sun in late February, I'm inclined to say that "sheltered" snow no longer really exists on Cutler Ridge (at least that I could find). Conditions were variable and challenging. If I were looking for good turns, I'd either be aiming for mid/uppper elevation northerlies where the surface will at least be consistently firm (P hard or more) due to wind. Otherwise, if I were inclined to embrace this current spell of springtime, true southerly terrain (SE/S/SW) would hold good skiing with the right timing. E skied okay today late morning, with supportive enough crust and not-quite-corn.
The inversion was accompanied by the usual surface hoar at low elevations this morning, but much of this was disappearing by midday.