Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Skied the Z on Mt. Wood today. Temps were below freezing all day, with lots of sunshine and a light to moderate north/northeast wind keeping things even cooler. I skied the skier’s right arm of the upper section of the couloir, which faced due north, and found wind affected snow, with some widespread, shallow surface faceting that made for enjoyable, but firm skiing. The middle section of couloir, after the dogleg, has a NE aspect, and was way less enjoyable. Three dimensional, frozen snow was interspersed with some faceting between texture, that made for just enough edgability. The last section, and the apron, had been very scoured by slides, and were very firm. All of the terrain down to Parker Lake had been through multiple melt freeze cycles, and was pretty smooth, but showed no sign of softening today, even by 1600. I hopped over to the S side of the moraine below 9k, and did find sun softened snow on the steeper slopes, but the flats had not softened. All terrain below about 8k had softened, although just the top inch or so, which made for excellent travel back to the car, at the intersection of Parker Lake Rd. and the June Loop. The creek was open all the way to Parker Lake.

Signs of Unstable Snow