Quick report
Pictures and tracklog at: https://www.strava.com/activities/10996869121 As with the prior day, I descended into the fringes of Burt Ravine only to the extent that I could still traverse back to the Cog without any skinning. Unlike the prior day though, only one single person appeared to have skied from the West Side today, and our tracks did not overlap much. Hence I was able to observe the fresh overnight snow without any skier(/rider) disturbance, over the span of 2,500' vertical: - NW aspect of the fringes of Burt Ravine, wind-affected of course (even though I’m still claiming untracked powder), but not at all reactive (as far as could be discerned by skiing), once again affirming the avy bulletin’s continuation of the wind slab problem only to N and not continuing counterclockwise to NW. - Skiing and traversing through the trees back to the Cog line, the wind-affected snow dramatically changed back to what must have been close to its original density. - On my second descent, when I traversed back under the Cog at the work road cut through to finish skiing on the descender’s left of the Cog, the snow stayed dry all the way to the hiker parking lot, but .. - On my first descent, when I stayed on the descender’s right of the Cog all the way down almost to the railroad bridge, the snow became slightly yet noticeably wetter and heavier from solar gain a little below Waumbek Tank (3,800'). This was despite how today was hardly all that bright and sunny, and despite how at first glance both sides of the Cog seem to have similar shade, or rather, lack thereof. However, back before this recent storm cycle, on March 8, the descender’s right was entirely bare, and the descender’s left was continuously skiable (barely). So a good reminder about how small amounts of solar gain and small differences in terrain can add up to significant changes in the snowpack.