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Observation: Toledo Bowl

Observation Date
3/14/2013
Observer Name
Walt Haas
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
South side of Cardiff Pass; Toledo Bowl
Weather
Sky
Clear
Weather Comments
Hot sun, T-shirt weather. The sun was really cooking the snow.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
When we headed up from the Alta Town Hall at 10AM, the snow surface was frozen. By the time we got to Cardiff Pass, the south-east face of Cardiff Peak had several inches of soft wet snow on top. When I took my ski off, my boot went in to the snow knee deep. The snow hasn't formed corn yet but the heated surface was soft on a supportable crust so skiing was pretty good on the south aspects.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Cracking
Collapsing
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Numerous wet slide avalanches from yesterday. The frozen crust cracked in the morning before softening. Later, roller balls were starting naturally from rocks and trees, and we added our own at almost every turn.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
From pushing a ski pole into the snowpack it was obvious that there were numerous layers and crusts in the pack. Thus with the rapid warming there was a potential for wet slab avalanches from water sinking into the snow pack. We didn't hang around on the south aspect, it looked too sloppy and unstable. We were back at pavement at 1:40.