Quick report
Route: Sunburst to 3150' on the standard uptrack, and down SW and West aspects from 11 AM - 3:30 PM Signs of Instability: The slab avalanches reported yesterday could be seen on Sunburst and Tincan; see photo below for several D1 skier triggered slabs likely from yesterday - maybe early today - on Magnum's west face. Additionally, around noon there were very active rollerballs on steep SW terrain features of Seattle Ridge, giving a preview of the sun's power today on solar aspects. Weather: Broken skies with relatively thin clouds, making it so that the sun still felt strong/could cast a shadow about half the time. Temps in the 20s - low 30s, and occasional light north wind. Snow Surface (Noon): Small surface hoar below 2000' on a very loose snow surface. Above 2000' - compared to Eddies yesterday - the March 19/20 snow felt denser today... potentially the result of yesterday's warming/sun. Steep southerly terrain features had thin breakable crusts from yesterday on the surface, and we could also feel a thin breakable crust likely at the new/old snow interface on a steeper southerly aspect of our first run. Ski penetration of 4-8" throughout the day. Snow Surface (3 PM): Low angle solar aspects almost had a moist snow surface, while steeper slopes directly facing the sun had a thin melt layer over several inches of moist snow. With many hours of sun remaining and what felt like rapidly increasing temperatures, it will be interesting to hear future snow surface reports... tis the sunny season! Snowpack: Ski pole probing and hand pits generally found 12-18" of soft snow over the early February crust, with less March 19/20 storm snow (~15-20cm) here versus further north on the pass at Eddies (20-30cm yesterday). Structure wise, the near surface facets buried by the Mar. 19/20 storm were slightly looser and larger on Sunburst versus Eddies, often failing under easy force in hand pits. This upper layer of facets could be found in most locations travelled today. The second deeper layer of very well developed, very loose 1.5mm facets that sit directly on the early February crust were easy to find in hand pits up to around 2000', but above that they were only found in smaller, wind protected areas of the slope, and not anywhere near the ridge line where winds often transport snow. Where found, they'd also fail with easy force in hand pits. See photos for a pit in one of the few untracked patches of snow on this popular area of Sunburst, around 2400' on a NW aspect. The pit location was chosen about 100 yards from the uptrack ridge, where ski pole probing showed that both layers of facets were present. While test results for the upper layer of facets didn't show propagation, the slab was quite soft at this location, and didn't get much sun yesterday or today. The lower layer of facets did have an unstable test result, but probing in the vicinity showed that this layer wasn't well connected in the area around the pit. With so many different slab/weak layer combinations possible based on aspect, elevation, and prior winds right now, we certainly didn't put much weight into this pit for decisions, but it will be interesting to track these layers over time.