Public Observation

Observation Details

Observations

Skied the main Wahoo Gully today, dropping at 12:45. We found excellent, smooth, melt-freeze snow, although not true corn. The upper 200 feet or so were still transitional, but soft. Throughout our tour during the rest of the day, we found a variety of surfaces, with very little true corn. Many surfaces on all aspects in the alpine were quite rough and three dimensional. The SE face off the top of Checkered Demon was softening by 10:30, but the skiing was a little strange due to this texture. We had originally intended to drop into the Checkered Demon couloir, but the entrance was frozen and quite firm. Very little wintery, cold snow was found on northerly aspects, even up high. The best snow we found was on a due S aspect, at around 10,200’, and had clearly been through multiple melt-freeze cycles.

Temps were right around freezing in Aspendell around daybreak, and in the upper 50s in the early afternoon. The refreeze was strong all the way to the car. The sun was quite strong, and it felt very warm up high, although a moderate north wind kept things feeling quite cool at the ridge tops around 13k.

Also of note, heading north on 395, we saw a large debris field coming out of the SE couloir on Baldwin that appeared quite recent. It was large, wet and dirty and ran quite a ways.

Signs of Unstable Snow