Observation: Days Fork

Observation Date
2/12/2019
Observer Name
Zimmerman-Wall/Nason
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork
Location Name or Route
Days/Cardiff
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Winds were up along the AF/LCC ridge line all day. Huge plumes of snow moving off of Mt. Baldy-->Hogum Ridge. Watched a large explosives controlled slide run off of Mt. Baldy at 08:00 and run well down into the ballroom. Wind Speeds were in the light to moderate range along the LCC/BCC ridge line and transporting snow above 10,000 ft. for most of the day. Tracks from a dozen heli-skiers were erased within an hour along Mid Ivory down to about 300 feet below the ridge (crossloaded). Overall, ski quality held up well, even in the wind effected zone. This problem is going to continue and new snow Wednesday into Thursday will perhaps bury older slabs with fresh snow and/or contribute to deeper slab formation due to high moisture content of the incoming storm.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Cornice
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
The dense snow of last week's major storm, along with how filled in the fetches are on south facing LCC, has made this a growing problem. Cornices are gaining mass and many are quite overhung. Some even have small fresh cornices building off of the curling faces. Simply stayed away from these today as best as we could. Too many people around to even think about dropping one. Did here one uncorroborated report about a natural cornice fall in north facing LCC around mid-day. Bottom line- they are out there and it's getting harder to stay away from and out from underneath these features.
Comments
The persistent slab problem is always in the back of our minds and there was evidence of previous persistent slab avalanches in terrain visited and viewed today (High Ivory and Mt. Baldy). Current structure in the core (upper LCC and BCC) puts the Feb 2/3rd near surface facets down about a meter, and any others at least twice as deep on northerly facing slopes. That said, repeater paths such as Cardiac Ridge and 2 Dogs were avoided by our group today due to the potential presence of this issue.
Photos below:
1. Cornice growth above 2 Dogs
2. Transport along AF/LCC ridgeline
3. Transport on High Ivory
4. Transport on Mid Ivory (erased tracks)
5. Previous crown from natural slab release below High Ivory (note loose dry avalanches off of ridge)
6. Ski penetration was less than 10cm, which made for great, supportable skiing at mid elevations out of the wind
7. Upper Cardiff- lots of surface evidence of wind saltation in the bowl.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates