Quick report
Headed to Cardiac Ridge hoping that the wind had smoothed it out and the coating of graupel stuck on the slope, both were true. We decided it was time to gain the ridge and have a look into the Room of Doom in Mineral Fork, I haven’t seen any obs or information from this area this season. Both entries off Cardiac Ridge and a good part of the bowl appeared to avalanche to the ground in our last cycle, leaving bushes and grass sticking out of the bed surface. This may not bode well for future snow loads seeing that this slope sees zero sun this time of year and has a thin layer of snow in the bed surface that may have faceted. Not positive though we decided not to drop in and smack rocks. The Ridge on the other hand seems to be in fairly good condition, there are patches of surface facets mixed in with decomposing wind slabs but nothing to shocking. Even the part of the ridge that has avalanched twice and only has a foot of snow in the starting zone has not rotted out to the ground and only has surface faceting. These snow conditions are all due to cloudy nights, warm temperatures and the wind blasting the snow into place, all slowing the faceting down to a snails pace.
photos: the Ridge with a good coat of graupel, decomposing wind slab, Room of Doom with brush sticking out the bed surface, smooth graupel on the ridge
Snowpack
Once again the ski quality was saved by yesterday’s winds smoothing out the slopes and a coat of graupel to make the turns soft. The new snow was damp on the S end of the compass by 10:30am