Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
- Collapsing
- isolated
I toured up to Mt. Judah to inspect the effects of last evenings storm. Through late morning, the wind was blowing steadily from the SW at 40+ mph, whipping the ridge line with a thick freezing fog. Visibility was near zero off and on. Down lower in the trees, the snow was silky smooth, yet well consolidated, it was far from the light blower flakes of powder that we saw last week. The crest was peppered with wind sculpted features, producing hallow, overhanging cornice lips and the Judah ridge line offered very few entry points along the east face. The cornice features were very brittle and easy to breakout in large blocks. (Sorry, no photos of the large blocks. Visibility and access was limited) As expected, the lee sides of the ridge held small, highly reactive wind slabs that under body weight, would repeatedly settle and shift 40’-50’ across in long arcing cracks. Despite the settling, I actually had difficulty propagating the slab features under my weight alone. A large group, or snomo may not have been so lucky. However, it was a good sign that the new/old snow is attempting to bond. Being solo, I decided not to drop into the East face, as was my plan, but instead, I saved my “wild card” for another day and enjoyed a smooth descent into the trees along the north shoulder.
Avalanche
No avalanches observed.