Quick report
Skied several slopes in the Heavenly sidecountry today, and found excellent conditions transitioning from winter to spring. The first slope we skied was SE facing from about 9700’ to 8500’, and at about 10:20 am, we found cold snow for the upper 500’. For the lower portion of the line, we found denser snow with a soft crust from yesterday’s sun. The next slope we skied was NE facing from 9400’ to 7300’, and we descended around 12:45 pm. The skier’s right portion which faced NNE held cold, unconsolidated wintery snow for about 1500’, which was incredible skiing. Below that, and on the skier’s left wall, which faced E, we found snow that was warming and becoming more dense, or snow that had previously warmed yesterday and had a crust on it. We traversed from the bottom of the line across numerous small sub ridges and drainages, and at this lower elevation, most of the snow was fully wet and sticky. Our last descent was at 3:45 pm, on an ENE slope from 8200’ to 6300’. Here we found winter snow that had warmed, which still made for excellent skiing. Lower down, we found a temp crust capping this snow, and then ran into the snow line around 6300’. We didn’t see any signs of instability today, with the exception of one loose wet avalanche on an E slope that originated from some rocks. We didn’t push any rollerballs or pinwheels even on steep, sun warmed slopes, but snow quality was definitely changing. We did see some very small loose dry sluffs on steep, higher elevation northerly terrain, but these were very shallow and didn’t entrain much snow. Temps were below freezing all day, but when the sun was out, it felt very warm. We also didn’t note any wind transport, and only a slight breeze at the ridges occasionally.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- NO
- Elevation
- 8300 ft
Natural loose wet off the rocks on the skier’s left side of the path, which faced E. Decent amount of debris, approaching D2, and ran several hundred feet.