TR: No la-el niٌo: 2013-14 Wasatch snow conditions

[WoW]

First flakes lingering till spring melt off are on the ground.



In case you wanna share, here is a place for snow conditions observations. I'd hope if stoke is shared, a description of snow is included.
As a full time student, I'll not be out as much as I'd like but, will update when possible.

In addition I am personally not interested in the danger from the avalanche club. If I were, I can find it on my own.
Your personal info is far more relevant.
That said...

[WoW]

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

7400-10500, angles over 35°, north facing aspects





Snow conditions
I put skis on at around 9k because there was several inches on the shady road. An actual base doesn't exist till around 9500' with 4-10".





Up higher, the three storm layers can be found on shady north facing. More snow on northeast than northwest faces.
Marginally skiable on north facing above 10k. Lower angles have better support.

Weather
Clear to partly cloudy skies. wind from the south early, switching to the northwest by afternoon. Gusts to 15 mph off the ridges.
Moderate temperatures.
Snow pit






Recent snow was recrystallizing, evident where a variable wind drifted layer was present.





Evaluation
Stable snow on the north facing.
Weather guessers have no snow in the forecast so..we'll see if it rots.

[pcarborist]

Bob, you should move this thread to the bc talk forum. I didn't even know it was here until I stumbled onto it.

[Dostie]

Bob can't, but I will. The wizard didn't realize the rules and possibilities are a bit different here.

[WoW]

I put it in the TR section cuz it's a season long one.



Hoping the hatu blows out the smoke at least.
Ski by Halloween?

[pcarborist]

Looks like the wahsatch is going to git some

UTZ008-290015-
WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80-
INCLUDING...ALTA...BRIGHTON
425 AM MDT MON OCT 28 2013

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO
6 PM MDT WEDNESDAY...

.TODAY...WINDY. PARTLY CLOUDY WITH ISOLATED RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS
IN THE MORNING...THEN CLOUDY WITH SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON.
ACCUMULATION 1 TO 3 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 9000 FEET. HIGHS IN
THE LOWER 40S. SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH INCREASING TO SOUTHWEST
25 TO 35 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 80 PERCENT.
.TONIGHT...BREEZY. SNOW IN THE EVENING...THEN SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY
AFTER MIDNIGHT. COLDER. ACCUMULATION 3 TO 5 INCHES. LOWS IN THE
LOWER 20S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH. CHANCE OF SNOW
80 PERCENT.
.TUESDAY...SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY. COLDER. ACCUMULATION 1 TO
3 INCHES. HIGHS IN THE MID 20S. CHANCE OF SNOW 70 PERCENT.
.TUESDAY NIGHT...SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY. ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE.
LOWS 15 TO 20. CHANCE OF SNOW 60 PERCENT.
.WEDNESDAY...CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS.
HIGHS IN THE MID 20S.

[WoW]

Went up Collins to Baldy shoulder this morning. The new snow up at higher elevations was slabby, shooting cracks coming with every step. Ended up turning around and picking my way back down the ridge to the top of wildcat. 2 slides on the NE aspect, about 60 feet across, 8-12 inches deep, that we likely triggered remotely(like over 50 feet away).

Collins snow stake reports a 24 hour snow total of 11".
Unfortunately, I gotta wait til Thursday for a look and see.

[WoW]

Cottonwood Canyons forecast



From the Mineral Fork ridge.
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7200-10200', angles over 35°, north facing aspects
Snow conditions
Three or four inches fresh at the trailhead, increasing with elevation to about eight inches in upper elevation shady.
New snow was of moderate density. Muffled collapsing from about 8400 to over 9k. Most was associated with underlying ground cover.
No collapsing in the upper bowl.
Weather
Low clouds obscured the peaks till about mid day. Clearing in the afternoon, warming temperatures were melting lower elevation snow.
Winds were light from the north.
Avalanche activity
Two natural avalanches in "Room of Doom". Both were early in the storm, 6"+ over the bed surface.
The largest was 80-100' wide, running several hundred feet. Old snow weak layer.
Snow pit



Evaluation
Mostly stable snow. Collapsing indicates continued instability in localized areas.
Underlying snow pack on the shady side is weak but lacking load. Increasing wind and or snow could activate that layering.



More coming next week?

[3PinGrin]

Glad you continued this thread over here from TeleTips Wow. It's been decades since I lived in SLC, but regardless, I always enjoy the informative detail of your posts and photos of gettin' after it. Two thumbs up!

[pcarborist]

Went up to Supreme with the weatherman today. There's still about 2 ft snow holding on northfacing upper elevations. We found the usual group of suspects: wind crust, M/F crust, facets, settled powder, corn snow and of course rocks and stumps. Heard a small collapse on a NE rollover on a windslab at about 10k.

[WoW]

Mill D North fork to Desolation Lake
Current snow cover
Upper Cardiff



Willow-Beartrap



Mill A, Butler, Mill D.



Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7400-9780', angles over 35°, all aspects
Snow conditions
Patchy snow on the trail all the way to Desolation lake. 4-20" on the shady side up higher.
Snow from the last storm is faceting with cool night time temperatures.
Slopes receiving some sun during the day have a thin, mf surface crust.
Snow is supportable on skis, marginal on foot.
Weather
Beautiful weather, mild temperatures and light wind.
Snow pit



Evaluation
Stable snow conditions.
Weakest snow is near surface faceting.

[WoW]

November 29
Bowman trail to Cabin run on Gobblers



Elevations, slope angles and aspects
6400-10400', angles over 35°, north and west facing aspects.
Snow conditions



Snow line in the shade is about 8k.
There is patchy snow below that elevation with micro spikes popular for the dog walkers.
I put skis on at the Yellow Jacket crossing ascending, took um off at Pole Canyon, descending.
Upper elevations have scattered wind effect, drifting and scouring, non-reactive. A patch or two of surface hoar, mid elevation sheltered.
8-16" total snow.



cont...

[WoW]

Weather
Mild temperatures with light wind.



Evaluation



Weakest snow is at the surface and it ain't that weak. It was sandboxing a bit on the cabin run ascent.
No "depth hoar" was observed.
Weather guessers are hinting at a pattern change with the new moon so...

future instability would be dependent on snow amount, wind and bonding of new snow to the old surface.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Finally got out Today, Skied the east face of Reynolds. Their were two nice looking tracks when got there. I Cut across them to the south to start my run and hit a lot of rock, after dropping about fifty feet conditions became quit nice though the powder was really slow due to single digit temps. North facing above 8500' has about two feet of cover where it is protected from the wind All other aspects looked rather grim. A bit of wind loading on true north facing lines, otherwise the only dragons out in the Millcreek, BC ridge line area are those waiting to be buried by the next storm.

[WoW]

Hell, I thought I was the only Wasatch skier on here.
Thanks for the info!
December 6
Grizzly Gulch, Silver Fork, Days Fork, Spruces
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7500'-10k+, angles over 35°, all aspects.
Snow conditions



Recent storm snow has settled to less than a foot. It was a little inverted in places and a bit stiff.
Under the new, there is extensive variability. East and west facing have a crust of variable thickness and supportability,



Wind from several directions, including east, have scoured and drifted in an almost indiscernible pattern.
For example, I found over two feet of snow low in the west bowl of Silver Fork drainage. In the northeast facing starting zone, there was 12-16".
Hideaway park, northwest facing, had deeper snow off the ridge with similar 12+ inches lower. West bowl crusted under the new, Hideaway rot.
Upper Days was all over the map because of the terrain variation.
South facing, new snow only, with anomalies dependent on aspect changes.



Snow line is below 7500', it gets scratchy below about 8k.
Weather
Cold temperatures with light wind. Sunny in the morning, increasing clouds, add a little wind in the afternoon, I bailed.
Avalanche activity
Numerous natural shallow soft slabs and sluffs were observed from the storm period.

Most were pockets initiating at the old surface, digging into older layering here and there.
They were running to lower angled transitions .Because of the shallow snow pack, many slides left a bed surface and not much else.
Snow pit
Complexity adds confusion



I pole probed all day trying to find what I thought was a representative sample, stopped and dug a couple of times.
Common theme, weak snow under the new, with facet-crust sandwiches, widespread.
Evaluation
Weather guessers have another storm incoming, light density and cold temperatures so...
I'd expect another round of shallow slides.
With winds predicted to increase, drifted locations could receive enough snow to break into older layering, some at the ground.
A clean out for a fresh start is unlikely.