Went to take a look at the mid-elevation E facing in No Name Bowl, the high elevation N, NE, and NW have already been documented in multiple snow pits and the structure seems fairly stagnate at this point and slow to adjust and stabilize. The problem with steep mid elevation E facing is that on the slopes that have shade from higher ridge lines or trees have old faceted snow and the slopes at the same elevation that receive full sun don’t. Case in point is the E facing in No Name Bowl at 9400ft gets a good dose of sun during the daylight hours and is not plagued by old faceted snow. A quick snow pit revealed a right side up snow pack going from 2 finger hardness at the bottom then to three finger and finally fist in the upper portion. The one problem is that the snow pack is much shallower and if we get stuck in a high pressure ridge for a extended period of time the whole pack will facet much more rapidly than the deeper snow packs in the upper Cottonwoods. No Name Bowl does have a split personality with the dark side being the skiers right side of the bowl which is a few degrees more N and also shaded by a ridge line of large pine trees, it does contain old faceted snow and has already avalanched one this year, these small differences can be a big deal when a new load is added.

Photos: quick pit, damp snow on the SE