Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Skied Kidney Chute today, and left the car at around 7:15, hoping to beat the arrival of the East winds. Ultimately, we did not, and the surface remained almost entirely locked up. When we left the car, air temp was 19 degrees Fahrenheit, skies were clear, and winds were nonexistent. Weather conditions were gorgeous all the way up to Kidney Lake at 10,300', as the sun came out, and it felt quite warm. On the approach to there, we had found all types of conditions in the trees- refrozen snow, windboard, near-surface facets and anything else you could imagine, although we were able to skin with relative ease the entire way. The apron of the couloir was beginning to soften at around 10:30, allowing us to skin straight up it, and we switched to crampons at about 10,800', for the remainder to the top of the couloir at 12,300'. Travel was very effecient, and boot pen was never more than 5 cm, and in most places, the surface had been smoothed by the sun, resembling a spring snow surface. Partway up the bootpack, at around 11:30, the winds we had dreaded arrived, and proceeded to blast straight upslope, reaching strong to extreme level at the ridgetop (enough to make standing difficult). These winds threw a quick, firm, freeze on the surface snow, and made the ski down quite exciting. High, thin clouds also began to move into the area around this time, all contributing to a very hard surface. Overall, it was a tremendous day out in beautiful terrain, but not quite the snow softening we had hoped for.

Signs of Unstable Snow