Observation: White Pine

Having seen that the advisory described west facing to the moderate, I felt comfortable changing my route to head up the lower angle runout zone of the Tri Chutes. As I continued up through the lower angle stuff the snow showed great signs of stability and was soft in lots of places. My first snow pit was at 9600’ W facing with no propagation after 30 taps. I continued up hill, ready to call it at the first sign of instability. I got a couple hundred feet below tree line and decided to call it quits because I would have been out of the sheltered area.

I think the cooling temperatures helped a lot today. The snow had time to settle and gain strength, and the newly freezing temps help give it the strength to hold me while I skied. Lots of 4 inch settlement cones.

Slope aspect was crucial. As I ascended the glades lookers left of the Tri Chutes I had to battle the breakable sun crust. The chute had a sun crust on the SW aspect. It is pretty rad to see the different conditions on different aspects in the same chute. Above tree line the snow has been scoured, transporting into the Birthday Chutes. I think what also helped was that the lookers left Tri Chute was blocked by most of the SW winds and at least the south side of the chute was shaded.

Moderate where I traveled today. We’ll see about tomorrow. All depends on if we see any sudden change in the wind, snow fall, temperature..... Photo Snow pit W facing 9600’. Thanks Utah Avalanche Center for all your hard work!!

I came across a melt freeze crust on anything facing west and south west that was not immediately sheltered from wind or sun. Areas that were in the shade or out of the wind had smooth, creamy dense snow.

Good dense strong 25-30” slab sitting on 6” of facets.

The trail was well packed down, complete change from Monday (11/24). Props to that guy for riding a bike up the White Pine Trail. It looked fun.