Obs-Snow Profile: Skyline 3/18/2011

Observer Name:

Darce Trotter Steve Cote

Observation Date:

03/18/2011

Region:

Skyline

Location or Route:

Electric Lake Bowl

Weather

Sky:

Clear

Wind Direction:

Southeast

Wind Speed:

Moderate

Weather Comments:

wind and high thin clouds never really let temps get as warm as we thought it would, took until 1300 hours for east facing snow to start to get manky.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth:

New Snow Density:

Medium

Snow Surface Conditions:

Powder

Dense Loose

Snow Characteristic Comments:

7 cm new and 173 cm at Miller Flats stake. 2" of fluff over 1" graupel sitting on top of 1"-1 1/2" MF crust. On steeper terrain, more north facing turns would punch through the crust, making for exciting skiing. We moved to lower angle, east facing with much stouter crust and had no more problems, even on steeper terrain. snow was fast and dust on crust, only thing missing was grooming grooves. midday the east facing and more southfacing aspects did finally start get manky over the crust.

Red Flags

Red Flag Comments:

Do not see any upcoming hazard, if big storm was coming, the graupel layer on top of MF crust could be a player, but figure heat will get to most of it over the weekend. Not enough to move around to create more than skier/snomobiler education shallow wind slabs.

Cornices are very large, and I personally do not want to fall off one, let alone have a chunk break off to ride me down the slope.

Primary Concern

Primary Concern:

Cornice Fall

Probability:

Moderate

Aspect:

Northeast

East

Southeast

Elevation:

High

Trend:

Less Dangerous

Secondary Concern

Secondary Concern:

Wet Avalanches

Probability:

Moderate

Aspect:

East

Southeast

South

Southwest

West

Elevation:

Mid

Low

Trend:

Same

Secondary Concern Comments:

Depends if things really heat up, sure didn't happen today

Elevation:

9500'

Aspect:

Northeast

Slope Angle:

snow_profile_location:

United States

39° 37' 53.9004" N, 111° 14' 54.9204" W

Observed Danger Rating:

Low

Forecast Danger Rating:

Low

Snow Profile Location

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