Observation Date
1/8/2022
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Gold Hill
Location Name or Route
Gold Hill
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Felt more like January today with cooler temperatures and nice cold snow. The winds were generally calm even along the ridge lines from the west, clouds did move in and out throughout the day and just a nice day with some new snow.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
6"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
Around 6-8" new snow overnight made for some great riding and turning today. Not deep powder riding, but some nice carving snow to make some wiggles out there. The new snow fell on a supportable surface from the strong winds this week and lots of riders were getting after it in the Gold Hill area.
Red Flags
Red Flags
Poor Snowpack Structure
Red Flags Comments
I did not observe any big red flags today and even the poor snow pack structure is beginning to look a lot better where the snow pack is deep. I'm still not ready to get onto steep terrain where the old weak snow is found. Where the snow pack is deep, I did not get a column of snow to fail pounding on the shovel, but a thinner place could sill produce unstable results. I was feeling pretty encouraged with the way things look out there with great coverage and seeing few signs of unstable snow.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Kind of feels like conditions are moving in the right direction towards stable snow. The weak sugary snow near the ground is getting buried by recent storms and wind and is unreactive in snow pit tests where the snow pack is deep. But in places where it might still be a little thin which can be hard to always know, I not feeling too comfortable getting into steeper terrain on the north facing slopes.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Decreasing Danger
Problem #2 Comments
Not really a problem today where the recent soft wind slabs were just cracking out very shallow and did not have any energy left in them. Just some very minor sluffing of the new snow and not a real issue unless in steep confined terrain.
Comments
A nice 6-8" new snow overnight that fell on a supportable surface made for nice conditions and lots of riders out today.
On this east northeast facing slope at 10,000' the old weak snow near the ground is getting buried by all the recent snow and wind and I was not able to get this column of snow to fail pounding on the shovel. A thinner spot might see a crack break across the column which is a good sign of unstable snow.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
Coordinates
