Observation: Main Gobblers

Observation Date
3/30/2016
Observer Name
White, Staples
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill Creek Canyon » Mill A » Butler Fork » Gobblers » Main Gobblers
Location Name or Route
Gobblers Knob
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Cloudy with a few clearings in the AM, socked in, light snow in the PM, light breeze on the summit.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

There was about a foot of settled snow on the main face of Gobblers, medium density, non wind affected, no density inversion like I was seeing yesterday.

Snow Profile
Aspect
North
Elevation
9,300'
Slope Angle
27°
Comments

Started the day in the Porter Fork parking lot, there was about 3 inches at the lot which increased to about a foot on top of Gobblers. The new snow seemed fairly well bonded to the old surface except on the steepest portion of the center punch, where you could get some snow moving on the slick underlying crust but this was fairly benign and not much of a red flag. Even though the sun only showed its face for brief moments it dampened the snow on the SW facing part of the gully down low, basically everything below 8000ft was damp on our exit. That being said the new snow was damp but not very active, we did not note much wet activity in our travels today. Visibility went down hill when we skied off the main summit, and we ended up skiing by braille for about 2000 vertical feet, discovered those Montana boys are good at skiing in the fog because Mark nailed the fall line in the white room.

Photos: turns in wet snow at the bottom of the gully, dropping cloud deck, and out of the fog and into the light.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate