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Observation: Silver/Days

Observation Date
3/25/2015
Observer Name
Glew
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Silver/Days
Location Name or Route
Silver/Days
Weather
Sky
Scattered
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Really nice day in the moutains. Stayed cooler than expected with a mixed bag of high clouds and sun. Breezy on the ridgetops, dying down intermitently in the afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
8"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments

Travel was from Grizzly Gulch to Silver Fork Headwall for a bunch of laps, one run in Hideaway Park, then over to Upper Days, and down Flagstaff to the car. I found good skiing conditions on the Silver Fork Headwall, with soft stable snow. I did get one small sluff on a high speed turn that ran a couple hundred feet covering up my tracks, but other than that no instabilities noted. The snow was a bit deeper in upper elevation northerly facing terrain, making for better skiing. There was a couple inches less snow in Hideaway Park. I found similar conditions in Upper Days to that of the Silver Fork Headwall. Upper elevation NE through NW aspects stayed dry when I left around 5:30 pm.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Rapid Warming
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
New Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Increasing Danger

Not the best pic but you can see the small sluff that took out my tracks. Nothing major but you could get potentially caught and carried over a cliff in a similar slide. I would imagine this problem to be most pronounced in steep upper elevation northely facing terrain.

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