Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Afternoon/Evening ski tour from Govy Skiway (2:30pm) to the top of Magic Mile Lift via Glade Trail over to eastern ridge of Little Zigzag Canyon and up past PCT xing. Descent (8pm) via ski area and trails.

Daytime (BTL) weather was less calm and sunny than expected. Evening (N&ATL) was cold and clear and starry w a bit of breeze later/ATL. More enjoyable off trail skinning w less WBE (winter bushwhacking-equivalent) than expected down low. Snowpack BTL was multi-layered, but supportable enough for reasonable skinning. Higher up found a mixed bag from soft and shallow to windpacked to scoured and icy-textured. A few indicators of (warm) unstable snow along the way, but no avalanches or other red flags observed. Even tried jumping on a safe south-facing convex pillow ATL wo any reaction (beyond almost losing my balance on the skid down).

Probably most significant thing I noticed were the headlamp sparkles on top of NTL, somewhat sheltered but sparsely-treed snow . Last time I saw that (in a similar area nearby), the persistent weak layer problem came about with the subsequent significant snowfall a couple weeks ago. Whether the calm, cold clear night-encouraged surface hoar remains intact this time around and creates a similar threat in the days or weeks ahead, time will tell.