Observation: Mt. Raymond

Observation Date
1/4/2017
Observer Name
Dunn
Region
Salt Lake » Mill Creek Canyon » Mt. Raymond
Location Name or Route
Raymond Glade via Porter Fork
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Went to Raymond Glade with hopes of staying out of wind and wind effected snow. This strategy worked on the approach up to around 7500', but the strong winds were working well down into the trees and creating wind slab. We had about 2 hours of heavily rimed snow, that combined with the wind, really changed conditions very quickly in the middle of the day. Pretty much blizzard conditions mid day for a couple hours, even well down into the trees.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
3"
New Snow Density
High
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Snow Characteristics Comments

Once in the wind zone, the snow was upside down with a wind slab on top and light density powder underneath. It still skied fairly well, but required some attention....definitely not effortless powder anymore. Although very slabby, we didn't see any movement. A few cracks in the new snow as we were breaking trail, but they were quite small and didn't propagate. No other settlement, cracks, sluffs or anything else going on in this generally gladed area. We did ski some steep shots and breakovers and nothing moved.

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