Observation Date
2/20/2016
Observer Name
Dana Holmes
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Raymond Peak
Location Name or Route
Butler Fork/Mt. Raymond
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Warm - 37 degrees at Butler fork trailhead at 7am. Snow flurries early. Higher peaks were going in and out of the clouds with patchy sunshine breaking through here and there. Winds were light with moderate gusts on the ridges.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Dense Loose
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Very pleasant riding conditions on NE facing terrain on Raymond - ~4" of heavy but dry-ish snow glued onto a supportable crust. Anything that saw sun yesterday has a stout ski supportable melt-freeze crust. Not very exciting to ski, but easy travel.
Snow surface was very damp at lower elevations even in the shade due to high overnight temps. Didn't see any natural wet activity but skiing was producing lots of rollerballs and wet sluffs even on mellow terrain.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #1 Comments
Found some shallow, soft 4-6" wind slabs high up on the ridge near the summit of Raymond. These all seemed to have formed on Thursday or Yesterday - there simply wasn't any snow available for transport today. They were well bonded to the underlying crust, but enough to keep us on our toes when considering line choices and consequences. These shallow slabs were limited to the top 20 feet or so of vertical on the lee side of the ridge. I would think that they will become increasingly stubborn over the next few days.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Wet sluffs and maybe some small wet slabs on steep terrain at low and mid elevations could be an issue the next few afternoons if temps are as warm as they were today.
Broken mid-elevation clouds. Most of the cornices visible along the ridge were hard old ones that had been around a while, but there was a little bit of fresh growth from that wild little wind/snow event on 2/18. Photo: Alex Manfred
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
