Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

The day began cold and clear, but warmed quickly with the intense sun. Snow began as predominantly cold dry powder but much of that changed today. 3-5mm surface hoar was on the surface, but much of it melted on east, south and west aspects.

We felt comfortable travelling under the south face of Table Mountain early in the morning, before the snow warmed enough to begin to slide. On our way to Ptarmigan Ridge we saw the Video Peak area had wind textured snow, as did the ridge. We found good skiing in non-wind affected areas, where there was 30-60cm of right side up snow overlying the 4/7 crust. The top 10+cm of snow was moist as we returned via southwesterly slopes.

Easterly slopes are where we saw the most natural small wet loose avalanches, as increasing afternoon cloud cover reduced the intense sun on west slopes. We didn't see any fresh wind slab avalanches. Cornices were huge, as they tend to be this time of year.