Observation: Cardiac Ridge

Observation Date
12/14/2018
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Cardiac Ridge
Location Name or Route
Cardiac Ridge
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Southwest
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Warm with not much wind to speak of, increasing clouds and wind speeds in the afternoon. When the wind picked up it was blowing in tracks and moving snow in upper Cardiac.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
The snow was definitely denser than what I was seeing yesterday on lower and more protected terrain. Wind slabs were forming in the afternoon on the E facing, steep S facing was getting damp and will be crusted in the AM
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
There was one new snow avalanche that Greg reported but it appeared to be storm snow only, and happened during the wind event.
Comments
Not a whole lot of action from the storm in Upper Cardiac, mostly new snow slides, in the bowl and the ridge, we didn’t note any other activity down canyon on our tour out to BCC. Took a look at the crown of the slide on the Ridge it appeared to be new snow only from a large wind load up in the chute it ran on the same October crust that the larger avalanche from two weeks ago ran on, thus it was a repeater. It’s kind of discouraging that the October crust with weak facets under it is still lurking as a bed surface. There’s not enough of load on it now but in my opinion it’s still possible that a big load could overload and collapse the crust creating a very large avalanche. In the mean time there’s about a foot of snow sitting on a old bed surface, that has the potential to facet and create another repeater next storm. Things seemed mostly stable today, tickled a N facing line into Cardiff that I’ve been steering clear of because it hasn’t avalanched yet, it still has poor snow pack structure but seems unreactive at this point in time. Most all the big lines in Cardiac had been skied by days in. There was some wet activity on the SE facing portion of the ridge but mostly just roller balls.
photos: wet activity on the Ridge, and a good strategy on using old avalanche paths as a safe ascent route
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate