Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Toured from Convict Lake over Morrison Col today.

• Getting up the moraine before the sun came up was a bit treacherous even with ski crampons. There was a surface freeze last night. But the snow surface in many spots was not not supportive without skis and boot pen was up to knee or deeper. Below the crust the snow is unconsolidated and granular. Old, refrozen tracks are raised up.
• Clear skies and intense solar radiation.
• Calm to light winds until noon even at 10 800 ft. A few welcome L gusts from the S helped cool us down a little while ascending the SE facing slope to the Col.
• Snow surface started softening on a slightly SE tilted low angle ridge around 9 am. By 11 am at 10500′ on the steeper slope leading up to the Col boot pen was 20 cm on a firm crust and it felt intensely hot.
• Although we finished our day at 1 pm, we never experienced the wind speeds that were forecast for today.
• While at Morrison Col we observed several Loose Wet sloughs pouring off the NE facing steep and rocky panels on the E shoulder of the peak. Ranging in size from D1-D1.5 and up to R2.
• There is a pretty large and overhanging Cornice on the Col but we didn’t see any activity there.
• Many previous LW slides had run down into the NW gully from both sides.
• At 1230 we heard a very loud slide from over on Mount Laurel. Unfortunately we were unable to see any debris running.
• Overall the Convict Lake area is showing widespread evidence of this LW shedding cycle caused by the high temps since Saturday.
• Many glide cracks on Mono Jim East Face.

Snow Stability