Observation: Alta Periphery 1/11/2012

Observer Name:

Kikkert

Region:

Alta Periphery
Little Cottonwood Canyon
Salt Lake

Observation Date:

01/11/2012

Location or Route:

Brighton - Alta periphery (Lake Catherine/Twin Lakes areas)

Weather

Sky:

Scattered

Precipitation:

Light Snowfall

Wind Direction:

Northwest

Wind Speed:

Light

Weather Comments:

Clouds rolling in and out during the early morning, with periods of clearing and periods of very light snow. Winds were mostly light along less exposed ridgelines and passes.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Depth:

New Snow Density:

Low

Snow Surface Conditions:

Powder

Snow Characteristic Comments:

Up to an inch of fluff provided some dampening to the ski chatter.

Red Flags

Cracking

Red Flag Comments:

Only very minor cracking in a few areas, despite jumping on some suspect test slopes. A noticeable difference from last week when the drifts seemed harder and more prone to cracking and collapsing.

Primary Concern

Primary Concern:

Persistent Slabs

Primary Concern Comments:

Primary concern is really a slab/rock combo. Really just out walking and looking at snow and didn't jump on much of anything other than a few small low angle slopes. I started working up a general pit profile, then realized it was pretty much the same as Evelyn's nice pit profile photo from Reynolds (1/10). The weakest snow is about 10 inches to a foot down, below the dirt layer and the thin rain/rime crust, which was barely noticeable where I looked. I could isolate a column, but it would fail upon placing the shovel on top. The facets below are so big is fun just to play around with them, like bb's in your hand.

Forecaster note: Kikkert, I totally agree with you on the slab/rock combo posing the greatest threat. Slabs are scattered about and can release but generally they're not all that large and not so sensitive at this point. However, if you screw around with them on a steep enough slope, they're large enough to take you for a ride through some rocks.

Kobernik

snow_profile_location:

Observed Danger Rating:

Moderate

Forecast Danger Rating:

Moderate