Observation Date
1/20/2014
Observer Name
Kikkert
Region
Provo » American Fork » Dry Creek
Location Name or Route
Dry Creek
Weather
Sky
Clear
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Just a little bit of wind along the highest ridgelines, otherwise warm and sunny with no wind. Last time I was in this area to ski Chipman, was in March of last year. Felt exactly like March today.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Still nice settled snow on the shady aspects, dense and creamy. However, we went for stable corn on the south facing terrain, which was more or less there. Crusts of various thickness, but mostly supportable, softening as the day warmed up.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Rapid Warming
Red Flags Comments
Hesitate to check rapid warming, as the warming is actually pretty gradual, with nice refreezes at night. However, you certainly could overstay your welcome and get some wet activity, particularly at the mid elevations, so checked it. Also, poor snowpack structure is certainly out there, but not where we traveled. On mid-elevation shady slopes the snow is now almost completly faceted again. So although a problem for the future, for right now things are quite. On the southerly slopes, snowpack was starting to consolidate a bit.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #1 Comments
Crusts began to soften around 1030, and although we had to ski then to get to work, would have been better a touch later. With provocation I'm sure you could get some wet loose activity in the heat of the day, but no evidence of anything natural. Typical spring timing for sunny slopes.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Problem #2 Comments
Took a look at snowpack on SE at 10,500 feet to see if there were any issues with persistent weak layers. Found roughly a meter of snow, with the old facets beginning to round. Mostly a 1-finger hardness snowpack top to bottom. Only weak layer of note was some facets preserved under a suncrust about 15" down. Could get shears on a CT, but nothing in an ECT. Not sure how widespread this facet/crust combo is, as the snowpack on SE and S varies considerably over space.
Comments
Although our destination was S facing Chipman, we debated the shotgun chutes on Box Elder briefly. However, after looking at them from across the canyon, these are still examples of slopes I am wary of. Although likely not visible in the photo below, you could see loading in the starting zones, particularly of the lookers left (west) chute. Were you to trigger something, the ride would be bad given the likelihood of hitting trees on the way down, as well as gullies at the bottom. Also of note on Box Elder, almost no snow left in the NW cirque. Looks like it all got stripped away by the W and NW winds.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate
