Quick report

Rainbow Ridge

Nathan FogellEastern Alaska Range
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Quick report

Spent the day climbing/skiing up Rainbow Peak (Rainbow Ridge) in the Deltas off the Richardson Highway. A beautiful day with no wind and temps around 10 degrees F. 5-8cm of fresh snow fell the day before with no wind making for some of the best skiing conditions on Rainbow ridge I have experienced to date. No red flags observed on this day. We dug a snow pit at 5600’ on a 33 degree South Facing slope. Snowpack was 95cm depth, consisting of 3-5cm powder, a 35cm pencil hard slab, and 60cm 4 finger Basal Facets. Our results were: ECT P 23, Failing on the layer of facets. Facets appeared to be “rounding” and were starting to stick to the slab in places, and becoming a more cohesive layer. Snowpack was variable in depth…just 10 Meters to the left of our pit, probe showed snow depth of 210cm. We turned around at this point and enjoyed pleasant skiing down to the Richardson Highway.