Snowpack

Observation: Moab

Kristi JensenMoab
View on map

Quick report

Aspect
Southwest
Red Flags
Rapid Warming
Elevation
3048 m
Slope Angle
27°

I was surely thinking I was going to just go for a tour with my dog to check out the access to an area I hadn't been to in 10 years. The Pinto Glades are low angle with a southwest aspect and after no new snow and a recent sunny warming trend I reckoned it would be poor skiing, meaning breakable crust. I was wondering how much fun I was going to have wearing my skins going down. The whole way up and part of the way down I thought it was just going to be horrible. Part way down, however, I got off the track and realized I wasn't breaking through. I removed my skins and ended up skiing corny hoar (can I say that?) on supportable crust. I got lucky. There is no way anyone would have ever thought that this area would have been good skiing in these conditions. It was so fun I went up several times. My lucky day.

Snowpack

Sun baked crust with a shallow layer of surface hoar on the surface.