Observation Date
2/15/2019
Observer Name
Chester
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Willows
Location Name or Route
Main Willow
Comments
route was little willow to main willow to pc ridgeline. 10-3
weather -
Wind- started out sw moderate. on ridge switched to wsw STRONG I suspect the wind picked up around 11.
wind was being transported 1/2 slope, skinner refilling 1/4 per lap.
wind was being deposited WELL below ridges.
reports indicate that rain line was 8000 ish
Snow/riding
Snow was very dense with grapule.
snow was very fast and creamy, very fun in mellow meadows. South skied well off the ridges where not wind damaged.. dense snow felt draggy on your toes and heels a bit.
Heat/crust for tomorrow
warmed up a bit, but above 7000 getting heavy on exit, a guess for sun crust tomorrow would be 7500 for s side of compass, below that might be bad. driving down canyon rain reported around 8000' is observable w roller balls below 7500' ish on north aspects.
red flag.
windslabs and cornices were main issues observed today.
the most obvious clue was west monitors slid. 2.5' to 4" crown, 200' -300' wide ran full vert. windslab. natural. could be cornice triggered but unknown. Saw Mark White on ridge so suspect he will have a write up. Ill post pics. i dug a pit in crown for personal education but not very useful/avalanche tells the tale. it was a windslab on a pencil hard bed. got ectn15 10cm from top ectn 30cm down and ectp27 Q1 60cm down where the avalanche slid. went from 4 finger to pencil 60 cm down. I didnt feel comfortable going out to flanks.
suspect cornices are an issue and getting bigger/may be sensitive w new loading.
A story expect. "cornices tend to break back further than you might expect" is a line that I like by bruce tremper. But how far can you expect? last year I saw a cornice I just walked across break 15' back from ridge between my buddies feet who were following my tracks that I set. Even knowing that cornices tend to break back further than you expect, It was still further back than I expected. another reason to space out and not blindly follow skin tracks.
solitudes beacon park works
my considerable was based on avalanche observed. New snow seemed well bonded to me but I was meadow skipping. pooling grauple maby a weak layer in spots for tommorow if load on top.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None