Tour was from Snowbird into White Pine Drainage. Skies were clear with a few lenticular clouds to the South. The South and West facing slopes >20 degrees were a cornucopia of crusts waiting to take down the unwary skier. North facing sheltered terrain below 10,000 feet harbored some great skiing. Particularly 25-30 degree slopes where you could surf small features. Windboard in a lot of places, and rocks in others, made it difficult to trust more than 20 turns at a time. Along the up-track to Boulder Basin we dug in a sheltered deep pocket of snow (HS 185) to observe the undisturbed upper meter of the snowpack. There were two distinct layers that could be a concern if a large load of snow/water comes our way. Down 30cm from surface there are some faceted stellars that produced clean/moderate fractures. Down 55cm from surface were NSF buried just before Christmas that produced clean/hard fractures. Current snow surface is mixed bag, but there are quite a few areas of surface hoar and surface facets mixed in with the wind effect.

FORECASTER Note: Thanks for the ob, Sean and team

Photos:

1. Upper meter of snowpack.

2. Surface hoar growing in sheltered terrain. Up to 10mm in size. Will likely be destroyed by wind

3. South Facing LCC- Lots of wet slides in the chutes above road.