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Observation Date
2/7/2015
Observer Name
Bruce Tremper
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Wolverine Peak
Location Name or Route
Avalanche class from Brighton to Wolverine Peak and return
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Windy in the morning and calmed down quite a bit by afternoon. Fairly clear all day with thicker clouds in the afternoon. Very warm.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

Almost every kind of snow surface condition--most of it bad but some slopes had quite enjoyable, dry, dense, settled snow in wind and sun sheltered areas. Sun crusts and mush on sun exposed terrain, lots of wind board and hard sastrugi on exposed ridges but occasionally the wind board rode quite nice. Damp snow on most aspects below about 9,000'.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
No red flags except lots of wind slabs visible on the surface.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Problem #1 Comments

There was lots of visible and obvious wind deposits but we could not get any of them to crack out. They seemed a bit old and the very warm temperatures kept them dense and non-reactive, at least where we were, even at the summit of Wolverine Peak.

Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #2 Comments

The very warm temperatures kept the lower elevation snow quite damp but since it's been warm for so many days, the snow seems like it's been there-done that and did not seem inclined to move. At very low elevations, there is no snow left. I can't believe how much has melted at lower elevations in the past week. There is almost no snow on south facing slopes below about 8,000'.

Comments

We dug a class snow profile on a northeast facing slope around 9,000' on a test slope and found very stable snow. In one shallow snowpack area over a rock (80 cm), there was the usual depth hoar by the ground that failed on medium elbow taps on a compression test but we could not get it to propagate on an ECT. Another group backed off one shallow snowpack area in Caribou Basin but dug again in a deeper snowpack area on a more gentle slope and found very stable snow. Overall Low avalanche danger though.

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