Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall, Wind Loading, Poor Snowpack Structure
We rode primarily southerly-facing terrain today. Here, we were not worried about the PWL as most of the early-season old snow was crusted or melted off. I think the new snow settled well, and we saw no signs of instability. Some small dry loose avalanches were in the steepest part of the Snake Creek drainage. These were small and harmless.
There was no natural activity in Snake Creek North other than dry-loose: no soft slabs or evidence of avalanches breaking into deeper layers. I was surprised not to see much.
The HS for the area (south-facing) was about 100 CM (3.3 feet). I found some shallower spots, closer to 50 CM (1.6 feet).
The cold temperatures and increasing cloud cover kept the southerly-facing terrain cool and the snow stayed dry. There might be a slight zipper crust here and there, but it mainly stayed dry and cold.
It looked like a large avalanche had pulled out below the Grunge Couloir on Timpanogos, but it was far away and hard to tell.
My danger rating is only for south-facing terrain.