Observation: Park City Ridgeline

Observation Date
3/20/2013
Observer Name
Jake Hutchinson
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
PC Ridge 9990 to Driveway
Weather
Sky
Obscured
Precipitation
Moderate Snowfall
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Snowing harder and more accumulation on the ridge than forecast between 3-5" depending on aspect with respect to wind, a lot of snow moving around creating good skiing if it was flat underneath.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

New snow 3-5" was dense and made for decent turns where the wind had piled it up and the old surface was smooth. The new snow is bonding moderately to Sundays few inches which is also not well bonded to the frozen snow surface beneath. These two instabilities seem minor and easy to manage, that could change with additional snow - the old frozen surface is an excellent bed surface and a soft slab ride on that surface could be high speed in steep terrain.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
No cracking, collapsing or avalanches were noted, a few quick pits on south and east exposure revealed to deeper weaknesses of note and confirmed everything to be locked in place. Of note is the fact that water has percolated through the entire snowpack on south aspects on this side.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Problem #1 Comments

no slabs had formed yet, but a few more hours of wind could change that. Small new snow sluffs seem to be the only problem today