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Observation Date
12/24/2014
Observer Name
Brackelsberg
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Brighton Perimeter » Snake Creek Pass
Location Name or Route
Brighton Periphery / Preston Peak
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Southeast
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Calm winds with moderate winds on the ridgelines. The wind was picking up as the day progressed and temperatures were dropping.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

The cold temperatures yesterday and cloud cover today preserved the snow very well.

We observed surface hoar on the south through east aspects above 10,000'. This was of interest to me with the storm approaching.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Skiing the south and east aspects gave a false sense of snow stability and the unskied north aspects looked very good, but knowing how poor the snowpack on those aspects is, it was easy to skip by them.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments

On the aspect we dug, the main problem I found was the deep facets and the week faceted layer between the old sun (or possibly wind) crusts.

Snow Profile
Aspect
Southeast
Elevation
10,200'
Slope Angle
32°
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates