Under a big, bright, beautiful moon, skies are clear and temperatures in the teens and low 20's. Westerly winds are still humming in the 30's and 40's along the high peaks. Depite the lack of snow, riding and turning conditions remain quite good, especially on low angle, wind sheltered terrain.
Above are 24 hour temperatures and snow depth from Trial Lake along with winds and temperatures from Windy Peak. More remote Uinta weather stations are found here
Recent trip reports and findings can be seen here.
Ted was up on Bald Mountain Pass yesterday, noting you can still see the summer hiking trail on Bald Mountain... a testiment to just how thin the snowpack is for late December.
With it's easy access, Wolf Creek Pass is a seamless pre or post work grab. However... just 'cause you can see your rig from the ridge, doesn't mean the snowpack is good to go or shares your same level of stoke.
The graphic above says it all... lean is optimal in some cases, but when it comes to snowpack it leads to dangerous avy conditions.
A BUSY WEEK ON THE EASTERN FRONT-
Yesterday Big Al and the BCI crew spotted this fresh slide on the south end of Double Hill.
Ted visited the Chalk Creek slide that caught, carried, buried, and injured a local sledder on Tuesday. Fortunately at the end of the day the rider came home... his sled however might need a rebuild. Ted's great viddy recap is found HERE
Riders first hand account is posted here.
On Wednesday, Ted and I rolled onto this slide on Double Hill just as the dust was settling. Averaging 4' deep and over 700' wide, this avalanche was triggered low on an adjacent slope. This is the kind of unpredictable avalanche dragon we're dealing with right now. Click HERE for more beta and a short viddy describing what we're seeing on the North Slope. More on this slide and other region-wide reports click here.
On Tuesday, we spotted this remotely triggered slide that's 3' deep x 500' wide on a steep wind drifted slope in Campbell Hollow. Click HERE for a viddy highlighting Mill Hollow avalanche activity.