Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Skied Red Mountain today. Snow conditions were excellent. Air temps were cold, the car thermometer said 17 °F at 11:00, but with the sun it felt balmy. Winds were nonexistent, and we observed only very limited snow transport. There was a small banner over Basin as we drove up, and there was light wind transport over the ridge between Stanford and Morgan most of the day. We were on the lookout for windslabs and didn't find many. The only place we did was just lee of the ridge at the top. We could crack small slabs with minimal propagation. Deepest was about 4", but this was isolated to the ridge (video attached). I also found a slab that sheared clean in a hand pit at the top of the looker's right gully (where all the tracks are) on the skier's left side, but the slab disappeared below and further in from the ridge.

The NE aspect around 10500' above the main gully softened up in the morning sun, and by 3ish they had refrozen with a thin crust when the afternoon sun was no longer cooking them.

Signs of Unstable Snow