Observation Date
1/17/2022
Observer Name
Champion, Antenucci, Collett, Manship
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » White Pine » Lake Peak
Location Name or Route
Red Pine to White Pine via Lake chute
Comments
Today from Red Pine to White Pine via Lake Peak. It was a nice day, with very little wind. We followed the road until the standard entrance into Red Pine, the skin track was slick but made for relatively easy travel. We stayed on the East side of the drainage and as we approached treeline the snow surface became wind buffed, and was primarily supportable with the occasional thin breakable crust. We also observed large isolated areas of surface graupel below 10,000' on the west side of Lake Peak.
On the east and northeast facing slopes in Red Pine, we saw evidence of old avalanches and debris piles. For the most part, these are being filled in with wind drifted snow and are places where a more shallow snowpack may exist.
Lake Chute skied better than we initially expected, the surface was wind buffed but soft enough to get an edge in and ride well. The apron is significantly more sun affected but still has large areas that are wind buffed. The best way to describe ski conditions up high today is, variable. Once we dropped below treelike we were able to find soft recycled powder on protected shady slopes.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Low
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Low
Coordinates