Observation Date
1/31/2013
Observer Name
Kim
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Grizzly Gulch
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Winds were blower, not the snow, sadly. We saw one guy bail halfway up the knob between Solitude and Grizzy Gulch.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Wind affected dense, not a crust per se. In Grizzly Gulch it felt punchy w/ poles through the windslabby snow. When we got on south aspect it was a little creamier, but everything was highly wind-affected. We skied two laps on south facing and it was nice riding (smooth & consistent, but a little wobbly due to the slightly inverted denser surface overlaying lighter). With the flat light (and low clouds??) it was awkward at times. Graupel noted on surface in the gulch. The best skiing was the low angle snow throughout the bottom of the Gulch to the parking lot.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
The recent avalanche appeared to be control work on Davenport? From a distance it appeared to be a hard slab with broken edges all around it, but did not seem to have released down, sluffs of snow ran from the middle of it. I stomped around on some wind pillows & no shooting/propagating cracks.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #1 Comments
Everything that we skinned/skied was wind affected. We skied from Twin Lakes Pass up the unnamed knob that divides Solitude w/ Grizzly Gulch.
Comments
The wind/temps shortened our tour, but what we did ski was nice and would have been really nice (given the wind affect) if we could have actually seen it (super flat lighting).
The skin track faintly appears in the windscoured southfacing snow above the gulch. Most of the snow in our small zone of travel was not scoured, but smooth with wind lipped pillows.
Poor quality, but you can see the wind rows in the snow while skinning toward Twin Lakes Pass in Grizzly Gulch. It was like skiing across a lake.
