Our original plan was to head up Flagstaff Ridge in Upper Little Cottonwood and descend into Days Fork. However, once we broke trail past the guard station we quickly realized the new snow and wind was a big problem. The visibility was 10' feet at best, and along with 20" of new snow we decided to pull the plug and turn around. Our group made the choice that it was best to head to more sheltered terrain. We decided to drive around to Big Cottonwood Canyon and go up Mineral Fork instead.

Our hope was there would be less snow and wind and the visibility would be better due to trees and the lower elevation. We were correct and rewarded with very nice snow and stable conditions on a supportable base.

Overall, the winds were calm in Mineral Fork and the snow was falling straight from the sky. At times the PI was intense and stacking up snow in the 1-2" per hour range. However, the warm temperatures and light winds allowed the snow to settle very rapidly and no instabilities were noted. In fact we center punched most of the bigger terrain on the east face of Mineral Fork.

I was able to get one wind drift to propagate out 50' wide. Although, it didn't move very far due to terrain features and the low angled terrain.

For tomorrow, I would expect most of the new snow instabilities to have settled out. However, one must still be cautious in the wind driven terrain. Drifts along with wind slabs should be taken seriously. If the sun comes out at all tomorrow - loose wet slides will become a big issue as most of the new snow sits on top of crusts allowing it to slide fast and far.

Out of wind effected terrain I would rate the avalanche danger as LOW. As you work your way into steeper and more wind effected terrain the danger quickly rose into the moderate to considerable category. We watched slope angle and consequences carefully today.