Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

No avalanche activity observed. We went up to about the Coal Creek area on Forest Service Road 9090. We were below treeline, it was pretty cold in the morning, well below freezing but warmed up to about 50 degrees. The morning skin up was very firm. The ski down the forest service road had very mixed conditions. On the way down, the patches that received sunlight were soft and good skiing but they were interspersed with many shaded icy patches. We dug a a few test pits as part of our AIARE 1 course a bit below but near Coal Creek and saw that the layers were pretty stable, though there was a firm crust layer on top. Luckily our skis weren't punching through it.