Observation: Cardiff Fork

Observation Date
3/8/2020
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork
Location Name or Route
Cardiff Fork
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Obscured skies with moderate snowfall, light SW winds on the ridge line, wet and fairly warm.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
9"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
6 inches of new snow when we started, about 9 inches on the N facing at the end of the day. The new snow was damp and shrinking fast on the S facing.
Comments
Headed up to Cardiff Pass around 11:30 from LCC, skied a few runs in the NE facing Little Superior area with an exit out Cardiff Bowl and East Hellgate. The new snow seemed to be fairly well bonded to the old snow in all but steep terrain. Long running sluffs could be initiated on the steep N facing as well as the steeper S facing running on the slick underlying crusts. Without much wind the snow was well behaved and did not seemed slabbed up in the terrain covered. The light was so flat it was hard to tell what had sluffed out naturally and what hadn't but the sluffs were easily mitigated with ski cuts. The underlying crust on the S facing was much more stout than on the N so you might wanna watch out for wet activity on the S facing if the sun comes out tomorrow.
photos: sluffing on steep N and SE
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate