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Observation: Days Fork

Observation Date
3/5/2018
Observer Name
L. Dunn
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Days Fork
Location Name or Route
Days Fork
Weather
Sky
Broken
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
We traveled from Spruces to Chicken Shit Ridge in Days fork. We had light snow showers in the morning and then partly sunny skies in the afternoon. There was a steady moderate wind at the ridgetop, but otherwise winds were light below the ridge with a few strong gusts.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
16"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments

The snow had settled some from Sunday, but was still high quality medium/light powder.

Red Flags
Red Flags
Heavy Snowfall
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
Although there has been a lot of new snow in the past 48 hours, we didn't see any recent avalanches, no sluffs, no cracking or collapsing. It seemed the new snow bonded well to the underlying surface and didn't produce a slab at the 8-10k level where we were. We skied 40 plus degee slopes near the bottom skiers left side of CSR and didn't produce even a little sluffing. In most places the snowpack is quite deep and the presence of the deeply buried facets was not evident without digging a full pit. But there were a few places with shallower snow and it wasn't hard to find facets with a hasty pit near these outcroppings. There was a lot of skier traffic on CSR (east-southeast aspect) today and nothing happened at all, but I noticed no one ventured out on to Days Draw or Banana Days which are more north facing. Its all about the deeply buried facets and it didn't seem like a good day for gambling when the skiing was so good on a safer slope.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate