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Observation Date
12/11/2012
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Little Cottonwood Canyon
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
12"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments
The medium density new snow was mostly right side up except where the wind had drifted it into windslabs or stripped it off the windward side. Most of the wind damage seemed to be on West facing aspects. E,N,NE, and SE did not receive as much wind damage unless it was exposed to the stong West winds from yesterday.
Comments
Route today was, Toledo bowl SE facing, Cardiff Fork N facing, Cardiff bowl and East Hellgate SE facing. Snow seemed well behaved today in upper LCC. Jumped on a few fat wind-drifts in N facing Cardiff Fork couldn't get a crack or collapse in the dense drifts. Did not note any natural activity from the last wind and snow event on Cardiac Ridge, or the Bowl, drifts seemed welded in place. Seemed like a good day to ski the South end of the compass, with clouds in the morning and sun in the afternoon South aspects stayed creamy all day. SE skied the best due to the wind loading into that aspect, at least where I was traveling today. Snow-pack in Upper LCC seemed to deal with the new load exceptionally well, probably not the case in thinner snow-pack areas. Pic wind damage NW facing Holy Toledo, East Hellgate.