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Observation: Cardiff Fork

Observation Date
12/23/2020
Observer Name
mark white
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork
Location Name or Route
Cardiff Fork, Ivory Flakes
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
Northwest
Wind Speed
Moderate
Weather Comments
Bone chilling cold in the shade, partly cloudy skies, with moderate winds from the NW on the high Ridge lines, fairly calm down in the drainage.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
9"
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Seems like the snow amounts were a bit over estimated, I was finding 4 on the summer road coming up from BCC about 10 at the bottom of Cardiac Ridge maybe 8 in Ivory. The new snow was fairly low density non wind affected in the terrain covered.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Recent Avalanches
Wind Loading
Cracking
Collapsing
Poor Snowpack Structure
Comments
Up Cardiff Fork from BCC again, ended up on the rock slabs at the bottom of Cardiac Ridge, then onto Ivory Flakes. I did not see any natural activity in the whole drainage that includes sluffing. That being said, there was still plenty of large tree shaking collapses and shooting cracks, which is a warning to slow your roll, watch your slope angles and be aware of over head hazards. We got one really big collapse where you could see the whole slope ungulate in a wave like manner and feel the ground drop out from under you a few inches. Still not feeling the need to test big steep slopes, a few people were nibbling at the bottom of the ridge, but I personally wasn't into the overhead hazard. Still waiting for a big wet windy storm to fill things in, getting nickeled and dimed with small light density storms isn't helping the bases of my skis at all.
photos: collapses and shooting cracks, if you look closely at the photo of the skier you can see the cracks shooting out from his weight on a really low angle slope. Also wind moving snow on the high ridge line and LSB
With no natural activity noted I gotta stick with considerable today, and the same tomorrow
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates