Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Skied Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, north facing chutes east of Fleur de Lis and See Yodelin. Solar aspects now have a semi supportable, melt freeze crust on them while northerly aspects hold good, recycled powder. We noticed some very isolated surface hoar growth on the undulating north ridge of Susan Jane near the summit, but nowhere else on the tour. Wind may have destroyed it on open slopes. We skied some steep, north facing terrain below treeline, which sluffed but otherwise didn’t produce any signs of instability. Gusty ridgeline east winds later in the day were depositing any snow available for transport from Highland Bowl onto the north side of the ridge. We were able to easily trigger these newly formed wind slabs by stepping on the ridge or on top of the small cornices forming. These were isolated to just below the ridge and produced 6-8” crowns, up to 20’ wide. They would have been more of a problem on larger, open, lee slopes or if there was more snow available for transport on solar slopes.