Observation Date
2/20/2016
Observer Name
Jake Hutchinson
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Little Water
Location Name or Route
Little Water and Sheep Shit Ridge
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Morning cloud cover lingered a bit longer than I expected, but what a spectacular day once things cleared up.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
5"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snow was a bit windblown in spots, but otherwise was nice, creamy dense snow. Skiing was fast and fun.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Cracking
Red Flags Comments
One cornice I kicked propagated a distance down the ridge but no slab on the slope below. Significant wind loading on main East face of Little Water had us skiing the perimeter.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Seems like this is isolated and healing quickly where we were. Slabs were up to 16" thick but had no propagation or alarming test results in our pits. The graupel associated with frontal passage seems to be the weak interface.
Graupel layer below new snow. Tests results were negligible, ranging from ECTN 16 to CT6. Kicking a cornice on Little Water's East ridge, this crack propagated down ridge and behind me.
Good skiing after dropping two decent size cornices with no result on the slope.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
