Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Had a great ski in Super Bowl. Started the day at the 15 mile marker with 3-4cm of fresh snow on a supportable, mostly edge-able crust on the S-SE aspect at about 4500’ with overcast skies and decent visibility. The surface of this crust was rough and somewhat crumbly - felt like the crust was breaking down into sugary grains. No signs of instability encountered, although the fresh snow became more cohesive on solar aspects with the brief windows of sunshine that happened sporadically throughout the morning. Found some small areas of wind drifted snow in places it isn’t normally, generally on the southern and eastern sides of the ridgelines. N-NW-W facing cornices were actively being trimmed back by westerly winds (see photo). Weather moved in around noon, visibility became obscured, and snow fell at a variable rate for the rest of the afternoon - from S1 to S5. We skied relatively low angle terrain so I can’t comment on sluff but the crust is very firm on wind and sun exposed terrain. Ended the day around 4pm with least 8cm of new snow on the crust. The new snow made each of our runs better than the next! :D