Observation: Emma Ridges

Observation Date
4/6/2019
Observer Name
Diegel, Diegel, Patterson, Jamieson
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Emma Ridges
Location Name or Route
Emma ridge to Doug's Drop and back
Red Flags
Red Flags
Rapid Warming
Poor Snowpack Structure
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Problem #1 Comments
Started climbing on dust on firm, barely spongy base. Did one run on hard snow with a thin edge-able layer of new snow (N facing). Sun and clouds were coming and going as we set up for our second run on Doug's Drop (NE facing). From the ridge, we had a dozen good turns on thin soft wet snow over a spongy supportable base, then the greenhouse effect turned on and the snow went to bottomless mush mid-run, just as it got steep. We stopped and dug a bit, finding a pole shoved in the snow upside down went about a meter deep easily, a pole shoved basket-first went in about 18 inches, and we were sinking boot-top deep on our skis. We hastily skinned up and retreated, with snow at the top of the run that was firm and supportable 15 minutes earlier now deep, wet, and unconsolidated. We retreated to our car on lower angle south facing snow that was wet, deep, and challenging to ski. We called it a day around 12:30 - we've never seen greenhousing have that much effect in such a short time. The snowpack we observed was a mess and looked to stay that way until it either froze hard or consolidated a lot.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable