Observation: Broads Fork

Went up Broads fork to have a look and see if the warm temperatures had facilitated in any glide avalanches, I was a bit surprised at the lack of wet activity, mainly roller-balls and small point releases. The usual glide cracks are in place but in my opinion there is not enough weight from our sorry snow-pack to put much tension on the slab and thus releasing them. I did avoid spending time under them and put my skin trail up the Diving Board in a place least susceptible to getting caught by a glide avalanche, I also made haste getting up in exposed terrain and out as quickly as possible. The temperatures were warm but not overly warm due to cloud cover and a light breeze. The snow-pack on the DB is thin and the structure is poor but I think the only thing that would make it avalanche at this time is a slide coming off the rock slabs above and triggering a slide into the depth hoar near the ground, all bets are off if we get a decent load of snow out of the next storm. Photos: The usual glide cracks in Broads, minor wet activity, and a shot of the upper part of the DB with a surprising lack of wet activity.

Found dense loose snow, mixed in with a little wind crust, with boot deep penetration on the Diving Board, damp saturated snow up to the base of the DB at around 9'000ft, melt freeze crust on the W facing above 9,000ft quickly softening and becoming damp by 12AM. Isothermal snow on the exit from 8,700ft and down.