Quick report
Where we traveled we found an overall LOW danger on north facing aspects and the danger slowly rose to MODERATE out of the wind zone on the sunny slopes. The due north facing slopes near 10,000' were soft powder conditions and below that it was damper and I would imagine that lower and mid elevations have a crust on the surface tomorrow. It was interesting to see intact surface hoar with a damp crust that sure felt like it could have some sort of near surface faceting on shaded slopes, but this most likely won't last long. It is just a unique thing to see in early April.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>There was a thin 1"-2" deep wind board on south and west facing slopes from the light east winds (photo 1) and large cornice build up in the Monitors (photo 2). </p> <p> </p> <p>I noticed some rider triggered wet loose avalanches on an east facing slope at 9,600' (Conehead) that looked like it ran above a dirt layer. This was out of the wind zone. </p>
10" settled snow depth on north facing aspects at 9,990' in elevation. South and east aspects took some heat out of the wind zone. There was a layer of surface hoar on the surface with a thin melt-freeze crust in the melt stage in the morning. This broke down and became more damp by the afternoon on all aspects but due north.
Photo of quick hand pit at 9,990'
Photo of damp crust with surface hoar at 10,100'