Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Snow Stability

Key Points

I toured from the top of J 7 today with the hope of finding some sun softened snow on San Joaquin or the negatives.

• Ski crampons were necessary equipment today even below treeline on the approach to the hourglass. In addition, boot crampons would be beneficial for the choke of the hourglass.
•  After reaching the shoulder of San Joaquin, it became obvious that the east face would be quite hard so I decided to drop off the shoulder far skiers left where the angle is more southerly. I found this area to have about 1 cm of moist grains on the surface. Not quite enough to be considered soft, but more pleasant than the skiddering wind board on present on more easterly or northerly aspects.
• After this quick descent, I headed toward the negatives and walked my way around to “solar bowl”. Much of the alpine terrain in this area is very thin or completely dry. I found it most efficient to put the skis on the back and walk from the saddle of San Joaquin.
• The more solar aspects in the Negatives have much thinner coverage than the more shaded areas which limits the areas that ski through cleanly.
• I found aspect made a big difference on ski quality during my descent. I found 5-10 cm of moist surface grains on more SE aspects while areas tilted more easterly surface conditions were mostly hard and slick wind board or in some areas, cold near-surface facets.  The sun-softened areas proved to be quite enjoyable, while more shaded areas were predictable, and edge-able albeit a bit more challenging.
• No signs of instability were observed on my tour today although surface conditions were quite variable and provided plenty of challenges on their own.
• I did my best to find areas with the potential for a small loose wet activity and was unable to do so.  Boot pen was about 15-20 cm at most even in areas near rock outcroppings. I suspect on more S_SW aspects LW could have been more concerning.