Took a trip into Cardiac to see how quickly the snow is decomposing from day to day. With the obs from the last few days reporting weakening snow structure, we figured the skiing might be pretty good on shady slopes. After finding good snow on the Keyhole into Cardiac we figured that NW facing slopes were probably the ticket for the day. We skied another N-NW facing shot off of Little Superior, but only found very firm wind slabbed snow that had not broken down. It was interesting to see the variability between slopes that are faceting rapidly and others on the same aspect and elevation that are not. This will be important to keep in mind over the next few weeks because you might find one slope that is stable, and another similar slope a few hundred yards away that is a death trap.

After finding disappointing conditions on Little Superior we took a chance on the due east facing Cardiac Ridge Run. Fortunately, but also unfortunately, we found exactly what we were looking for. The east facing slopes up high were consistently faceted. We skied for about 4-5 hours and the low angle of the sun didn't warm the snow at all. With only small amounts of snow in the forecast, this area will likely continue to rapidly facet and will be bulls-eye avalanche terrain when it gets a good load.

One other thing to note is that there are a number of ski lines in the Cardiff drainage that have a very thin snow pack due to wind scouring. I could see the grass sticking out of Holy Toledo all the way from Cardiac Ridge. Given how thin that snow is, I would imagine it is very weak and sugary. That is a line that I will not be skiing for quite some time this season.

For now the danger is low, but as soon as we get a decent snow storm stability assessments will become a lot more complex.