Observation Date
12/26/2014
Observer Name
Toddeo
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Wilson Peak
Location Name or Route
Wilson Peak
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
North
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
In and out clouds with a few flurries in the am and pm. Cold.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
16"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

16" new, evenly distributed with elevation. Well bonded. Trail breaking took a bit of effort. Hard to isolate columns in the morning, this settled out a bit during the day.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Heavy Snowfall
Wind Loading
Cracking
Collapsing
Red Flags Comments
Some recent avalanches/large sluffs on east and north facing areas. 16" of new snow is typically a red flag. some minor soft cracking in the new snow, minor conceren. Drifting along the BCC/Millcreek ridge, all drifts were soft without any cracking. 1 minor collaspe while breaking trail. In summary all red flags were minor today (on south facing terrain).
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Problem #1 Comments

New snow on north facing terrain in exposed areas looked wind affected. Sluffing of the new snow in steep terrain is possible, although test rollovers and slopes were generally less reactive than anticipated.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Problem #2 Comments

We stayed mostly on south facing terrain today but I assume that this has not gone away overnight.

Snow Profile
Aspect
South
Elevation
9,400'
Slope Angle
32°
Comments

Snow profile is from an area that had some snow prior to the last two storm events. This varied. In some areas the last two events fell on bare to almost bare ground with a thin layer of melt/freeze surfaces. Some weak faceted snow in this areas on the BCC/Millcreek ridge (not a surprise).

North winds had drifted a bit of snow onto the south side of the BCC/Millcreek ridge.

Two etiquette observations from today:

1. It's not nice to relieve your self on the skin track, there is plenty of room off to the side!

2. (Forecaster edit of opinion)

Moderate hazard on the south half of the compass. We did not evaluate anything on the north half at the upper elevations.

Coverage is still thin, lots of submerged objects on south aspects.

Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate