Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Started at Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center. Took public access trail and then basically followed Crystal Lake trail up to the crest. Skied down Red Cone bowl and followed the fall line down to horseshoe lake. Started at 10:15am. Snow was soft at lower elevation, but once we started climbing at 9200 ft elevation, it was unsupported crust off the skin track and very icy in the skin track on the NE aspect we climbed up. It was sunny when we started, then cloud cover started around 11:30am, then the storm rolled in around 12:30/1pm. Up on the ridge, strong winds from the south and low visibility at some points in the storm. Ridge was extremely icy and hard on east facing aspects. Once we crossed the ridge to the north aspect, there was dry unconsolidated snow that made for great skiing. Quick shovel pit showed uniform layer 2 feet down just below the N aspect of the ridge in red Cone bowl. Snow got wet pretty quickly after descending past the bowl, around 9500 ft. Small roller balls and sluffs witnessed. Great skiing on the N aspect all the way down to the lake. Observed about 3" over about 3 hours in the afternoon.

Caveat: we are very new to backcountry (2 people in party took an avy course last year and 2 people took an avalanche course this year)!

Signs of Unstable Snow