Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Started from the Lake Mary TH at around 7:45. Weather was cold, windy, with moderate snowfall. Toured up to near the top of Red Cone around 10300'. Near the top around 10:30, the wind had died down, visibility was 100m due to fog, and light snowfall was coming down as a kind of almost-graupel (overly fat, hard broken flakes).

At 10118' on the N-S approach ridge of Red Cone in a somewhat tree-sheltered area, I dug a hasty pit to see part of the snowpack composition. HS=160cm. A few inches of new light snow on top of 90cm of F+ to 1F compacted snow from this weekend. Below that layer was a significantly looser and softer layer of F snow. I did not dig all the way to the ground. When I first stepped into my pit to finish digging, there was an audible local whumpf. Ski Pen=18cm.

Skiing quality down the East Face of Red Cone was okay - only 18cm of ski pen in that F+ to 1F layer meant turns weren't super soft.

Signs of Unstable Snow