Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Headed into the backcountry with a very late start, around noon, and a distinct willingness to turn around if needed. May have crossed paths with Harrington as he left the field, chatting with a Cocaine-couloir party that described variable conditions.

The skin into the basin was firm, grippy, and fast. Encountered the debris from one fairly-fresh (probably yesterday, 2/12) loose-wet slide on the forested-ascent ridge to Red and almost turned around. Ski crampons were nice in the shade, but not essential.

The ascent of Red's SW slopes saw skinning give way to booting as the slope pitched up. Boot-penetration of 5-10 cm most of the way up the face on sun-softened snow over a quite-firm base. We had boot-crampons as well, but opted not to transition to them. Doing so may have been preferable. Ax/whippet strongly advised.

Skiing around 2:30-3 wasn't as sublime as expected; slightly sticky yet firm. Neither we nor the party of 5-6 ahead of us got any meaningful snow moving, but the snow was always easily-edgeable. 70mm-waist skis were just wide-enough to handle the softening.

The snow was firm-enough that we were willing to ski the direct exit gully, which, while full of older debris, skied passably. Watch for incipient creek-holes in the gut.

Exiting through the Basin, the sparkles of fine-grain surface facets, visible on the way in, had disappeared with the day's warmth. The luge-track is as deserving of the name as ever; firm and swoopy. Mind the blind corners.

Bonus observation: Rando-race packs make the ski-to-boot transition *way* faster and safer than ski-carry mechanisms that require removing one's pack.