Quick report
Toured out from the summer road to ski a south facing line off Skyscraper ridge and escape the mat-valley winds. Surface conditions were variable with grabby, breakable wind skin and patches of powder lower down. On the south face of Skyscraper, we found a thin, facety, crusty snowpack but great snow in a previously loaded gully where snow from the last storm had been protected by recent winds. Surface wind slabs that we found were stubborn and low energy though with poor snowpack structure and recent active weather we still managed our terrain with respect. No red flags observed throughout the day, small skier triggered wind slab in a loaded gully
Weather
- Air Temp
- 12F
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- 0
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Clear, cold, and calm. Great day to be out in the pass with the warm sun. No evidence of active wind loading while we were out.
Snowpack
Full mixed bag of surface conditions experienced today. Wind slab, breakable wind skin, soft new snow, breakable crust, supportable crust. Open south faces that we traveled on had a generally thin snowpack consisting mostly of large (4-5mm) depth hoar, a 2 to 3" thick melt-freeze crust, some soft, near surface facets, and a thin surface crust. The best snow we found was in a wind loaded gully where the snow from the last storm had been preserved providing great riding conditions. Sun was feeling strong, snow was melting around bushes and falling off rocks.
Avalanche
Observed a recent looking, very small, skier triggered wind slab on the sidewall of a loaded gully on the Southside of Skyscraper