Observation: Mineral Fork

Observation Date
1/7/2020
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mineral Fork
Location Name or Route
Mineral Fork
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
3"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
Riding conditions actually quite good on wind and sun-sheltered slopes. There's about 3 inches of fairly light snow from the last dusting sitting on top of another 3 inches of denser, settled snow that rides very nice. There are still many slopes that did not get many tracks over the weekend. We took several runs on east-facing terrain in the lower to mid canyon between 7500 and 9,000'. WPG was in the mid to upper canyon for a couple hours in the afternoon so it's considerably more tracked up than before. But more snow on the way....
Red Flags
Red Flags Comments
No red flags where we were and the snowpack seemed fairly solid, although I did not dig any pits. So this is more of a conditions observation than an avalanche observation. We just got back in town from the holidays and we were trying to come up to speed on the snowpack and readjust to the altitude. We stuck to moderate terrain and avoided terrain steeper than 35 degrees, more out of habit than any avalanche concerns. We saw plenty of old tracks and trails on the steeper terrain. Main problem will be in the future with new snow. There was a fair amount of surface hoar sparkling on the surface as well as some low density snow in the couple of inches. If the new snow covers everything up without much wind, we may have a sensitive weak layer under the new snow.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None