Observation: Red Pine Gulch

Observation Date
2/1/2013
Observer Name
lara kendall
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Red Pine, Maybird
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
West
Weather Comments
Beautiful day to be in the mountains! Basically bluebird with just a few clouds passing by. Winds were strong on the upper Red Pine ridgeline which made it feel like a cold winter day. Off the ridge it was calm and warm in the sun.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Rain-Rime Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

I skied in Red Pine yesterday and decided to return today to see how things were settling out. Most exposed areas had a rime crust and/or wind crust. I was surprised that the rime crust was not more widespread. It seemed to be in some locations and not in others of the same elevation and aspect. 2-4cm of graupel covered the crusts on wind sheltered terrain. The crusts were easy enough to ski but not ideal powder turns. ie- No powder 8's competition today! The trees skied much better than anticipated. The snow still feels a little upside down but it seems to have consolidated more since yesterday. The snow surface at the White Pine TH was damp on our exit at 1:30pm.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Collapsing
Red Flags Comments
While breaking trail out of Maybird my partner felt 2 medium collapses at about 9800ft, west facing. He mentioned they felt deep and likely failed on one of the buried facet layers from the January high pressure. We noticed evidence of recent avalanche activity and sluffing on the steep west facing Pink Pine Ridge and the steep easterly aspects of Upper Maybird. They looked to be small, fairly shallow pockets that likely pulled out a few days ago. From a distance it seemed to have failed within the new storm snow. The photos I took with my phone didn't come out clear enough to include in the Ob. Sorry!
Comments

Rime was present on all trees, rocks and most of the snow surface in the exposed areas of upper Red Pine.