Observation Date
3/2/2015
Observer Name
Kobernik
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Guardsman Pass area
Location Name or Route
Guardsman's to Bonanza Flats and back
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
South
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Light snowfall when I arrived around 2pm. It picked up for a brief period then quit and the sun almost poked through.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

Snow was really only accumulating from around the base of Solitude and higher in the Canyon. Difficult to get an accurate reading of how much new snow fell in the last 24 hours but 3 to 5 inches was about as good as I could determine. Perhaps just slightly inverted. It is quite deep on the east side of 10420 and may become too deep to be manageable for easy traveling on Tuesday.

Comments

Just a quick outing to test a ski on my snowbike today. I wasn't out for more than an hour or so but I did not see anything alarming as far as avalanches are concerned. I sidehilled numerous very steep slopes without any significant sluffing or cracking. Winds didn't seem to be drifting much, basically no snow movement down off the ridges.

I picked up a hitchhiker that had walked up Mill B and then descended Little Pine chute into Little Cottonwood. He said he noted just slight wind loading once he was within about 20 feet of the highest ridge.

Danger tomorrow will totally depend on how much snow we get and how fast it falls. I'm thinking MODERATE but wouldn't be surprised if CONSIDERABLE would be more fitting with intense snowfall in the morning.

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