Observation Date
3/29/2013
Observer Name
Bill Hunt
Region
Ogden
Location Name or Route
Snowbasin backcountry
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Weather Comments
Warm, of course; a few clouds gave the snow a bit of much-needed afternoon shade, and a light breeze helped keep the north-facing upper elevation snow above 8000 feet from getting too sloppy.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
It was good turning on shaded northfacing slopes, above 8500' was surprisingly good even in the late afternoon.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
We could only get out in the late afternoon, not ideal obviously, but we did some cautious exploring of north-facing terrain. Started due north in the Banana chute, which was fun dense soft snow on a slightly crusty bed surface. We moved over to Coldwater, traversing some seriously slushy W and NW pockets without incident, then pieced together as shaded a line as possible, N to NNE below 8800 feet, which gave good turning down to about 7800 feet, where push-alanches and the occasional large rollerball became more common. I didn't check "Rapid Warming" as a red flag because it seems we have had enough warm days by now, that the snowpack has had a chance to settle down. With another night without a freeze, it will be interesting to see if we get some glide avalanches in steeper bedrock chutes, in the 8000 to 7500 foot range. There is not much snow left below 7000 feet, even north facing. Heading out to the Smokey Bear sign in Ogden canyon was a 45 minute hike out today. Heading out Taylor canyon last weekend was a 1.5 hour hike out.
Comments
Good turning in north-facing aspects above 9000 feet.
Wetter but still decent down to 7800 feet. Stickier and more difficult below there, but still manageable with some cutting, staying out of the gullies, spacing out, but also staying within sight of each other in the trees.
