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Observation Date
1/30/2015
Observer Name
Toddeo
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mineral Fork » Barrieto
Location Name or Route
Mineral - Barrieto
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Generally calm day with an occasional fog bank. Minor greenhousing. A few flurries, fine grained pellets. damp.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Faceted Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

Trace of new snow, irrelevant to quality of skiing (or lack of)

melt freeze crusts and damp snow below 8000. Didn't really dry out until >9000'.

Snow surface very variable, weak faceted snow and stout supportable wind crusts with the full range in between.

Many areas of weak faceted snow, HS 50 to 75 cm and easy to punch through to the ground with a ski pole basket. Areas above 9000' are generally more wind/skier compacted and as my profile shows, the snow pack appears stronger than expected in this area. The one caveat is that it is highly variable, I could have dug 5 more pits that would have been very different.

The lower road seems to have a very disproportionate high coverage given the lack of cover in the upper elevations.

Everything below 9000' was damp on our exit at 3 pm.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
No real red flags observed today. The basal facets could be the one exception, but the thick competent bridge would need a really big event to overload. There is enough weak surface snow around that could also act as our next weak layer, but the recent warm weather has likely helped to strengthen it, still worth watching. My guess is the next event will be new snow only.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments

low

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments

low

Snow Profile
Aspect
Northeast
Elevation
9,500'
Slope Angle
36°

We need way more than just a refresher!

Low danger tomorrow based on the fact that it might not snow much with an easterly component in the forecast....

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