Skies remained clear last night and temperatures similar to yesterday at this time, registering in the teens and low 20's. Winds switched to the east and southeast around 10:00 last night, but are hardly noticeable, blowing just 10-20 mph along the high ridges. Sunny slopes are crusted and a bit rugged first thing out of the gates. So throw the scratchers down, hang onto your topknot, and with a little out-of-the-box thinking, you'll be rewarded with soft settled snow on high elevation, wind sheltered north facing terrain.
Above is hourly data from Trial Lake (9,945') and Windy Peak (10,662'). To view more regional weather stations click
here.
You came for the views... but you should really stay for the snow. Ted was near Bald Mountain Pass yesterday and commented.... "Been awhile since Bald Mt. has been white top to bottom and it looks great! There was quality riding and turning today on the north side of the peak with dense settled powder. " More on Ted's travels found
here.My partner for the day, world renowned mountaineer and overall B.A., Jeff Duenwald stands by a probe buried in a deep Uinta snowpack registering 205 cm. of total snow. Yup... it's a go-anywhere-base and the Uinta's are about as fat, white, and stable as they get.
Occurring naturally, a piece of cornice peeled off this ridgeline in upper Weber Canyon sometime late Sunday afternoon. The bus sized piece of snow crashed onto the slope below, triggering a shallow wet slab which gouged into weak snow near the ground. Of note... a repeater, the snowpack was already shallow in this zone from an avalanche triggered earlier this year.
Recent trip reports and avy activity found HERE.
