Observation Date
1/31/2020
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake
Location Name or Route
Gobblers Knob
Comments
Travel today was up Porter Fork to Gobblers Knob. We skied the mainline, bobslide and the nose, pretty much the same snow conditions top to bottom, settled non wind affected, boot deep powder. The main reason for this observation it's the thin and poorly structured snow pack in the starting zone of the Bobslide. Most of the spots we probed had a deep right side up snowpack but probing in the starting zone of the Bobslide revealed 3ft of snow with large grain loose facet at the ground interface. Ran into Peter Donner who spends a lot of time in the area, and he said that that slope hade run during the thanksgivings cycle which makes the thin and fragile snow pack make sense. I would be suspect of that line if gets a large load, it was basically the new snow sitting on a denser layer, resting on a somewhat stout wind slab with weak faceted snow below that extending to the ground. Haven't seen weak snow like that in a while except in No Name which also avalanched during the thanksgiving cycle. Good to run into Bruce Tremper, Susie and Paul Diegel as well.
photos: rimed dead trees on the ridge and the cloud deck dropping below 10100ft


Tomorrow might get interesting on the sun exposed slopes, they haven't seen full sun and above average temperatures in a while.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate