Observation: Public

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Observations

Skinning up from the Bullion Basin approach toward East Peak on a W aspect, we observed 3-5" of soft, fluffy snow un-adhered but non-reactive over a very hard crust intermixed with some sections of windboard and exposed hard snow. The E aspect descent into Cement Basin was good skiing on lightly sun-effected snow that had a vaguely sandy feel. N-facing lines in Lake Basin were soft snow with a layer of surface hoar visible and some small sloughs that ran a good distance downhill in the top few inches but moved slower than skiing speed. On the ski back down to the Bullion Basin approach on the W aspect below East Peak, the layer of fresh snow over the hard crust remained non-reactive until about 5500' where the snow became wet and heavy and hard turns produced small wet loose slides that ran a few feet downhill. There was evidence (12-18" chunks buried under a few inches of fresh snow) of previous and more significant wet-loose activity there as well.