Observation: Toledo Bowl

Observation Date

3/2/2014

Observer Name

Aaron Rice

Region

Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Toledo Bowl

Location Name or Route

Toledo/ 2 dogs

Weather

Sky

Broken

Wind Speed

Calm

Weather Comments

Mostly calm winds today, with sun poking out on and off.

Snow Characteristics

New Snow Density

High

Red Flags

Recent Avalanches

Rapid Warming

Poor Snowpack Structure

Red Flags Comments

Saw some large explosive triggered avalanches across the way. Ballroom and the Shoulder at Alta looked to go in the new snow. While Baldy on the snowbird side went very large. Hard to tell if it may have even stepped down into older weaker layers. A shame for the comp. </br> When the sun did poke out things warmed up very fast and got pretty damp. boo </br> The weak layers are still present on northerly aspects though didn't take a look today.

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

New Snow

Trend

Decreasing Danger

Problem #1 Comments

Had very varying results on hasty pits today. Skied toledo chute as it slid 2 days ago and seems to be a safe option. We were planning on skiing toledo bowl right next to the chute on our second run, but got ECTP4 in a hasty pit. On failure we noted a very pronounced collapse in the density inversion from the beginning of the storm on friday. This is likely a bit of an overstatement of the danger as I think I picked a place with some pooled graupel. That being said it was enough to encourage us to ski toledo chute again over the un-slid bowl.
Later in the day in Days fork and cardiff, in a couple hand pits I was barely able to observe a fracture.
Definitely a lot of spatial variability out there, but the danger is fairly rapidly decreasing.

Today's Observed Danger Rating

Considerable

Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating

Moderate

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