Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Toured up Bardini canyon again this morning. Windy with strong gusts and lots of blowing snow. Didn't seem like there was much snowfall last night, but the winds definitely came in. The skinner and all the ski tracks from yesterday were almost entirely filled in by wind drifted snow. There were strong westerly winds at the ridge line, but in the canyon winds were circling and blowing snow in all different directions. We found wind slabs up to 5" thick, but they were generally much thinner than that and patchy. Despite patchy windslabs, I observed no collapses or shooting cracks. Even kicking above switchbacks and turning above other skier's tracks produced no cracking. The snow seems to have settled overnight, as it was much more supportable than yesterday. I am growing more confident in the stability, and it seems like others were as well, given that a few parties were skiing steeper terrain (mid 30's-40 estimated off caltopo) and didn't trigger anything. Will see how things look after this storm. Winds were picking up as we left in the afternoon.

Ski pen ~1' Boot pen ~2-2.5' @ ~10,300 (in a sheltered area)

Despite the patchy slabs, conditions were generally super fun. Coverage down low was pretty good and I didn't hit any rocks, though my partner hit a buried branch.

Next to the small sluff reported yesterday there was a larger avalanche (though still small) that must have gone during wind loading last night.

Observed Avalanches

Signs of Unstable Snow