Observation Date
3/30/2023
Observer Name
Gagne
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » USA Bowl
Location Name or Route
USA Bowl - Monitors
Comments
With such heavy snowfall over the past week and lots of large avalanches, the only recipe right now is to simply avoid avalanche terrain. On my field work today, I thought I'd focus on the sun crust that formed Tuesday and yesterday, and see how the storm snow bonded to it. Strong sunshine the past two days created a crust on the southern half of the compass which was buried by snowfall overnight. In several pits today, I was getting clean shears at this interface, shearing on low-density stellars just above the crust (a poor bond). The storm snow wasn't a cohesive slab and I could only get ECTN in extended column tests.
For me, this indicates that any new storm snow and/or wind-blown snow may fail at this interface just above the crust where the crust provides a bed surface.
![](https://utahavalanchecenter.org/sites/default/files/styles/observation_image/public/images/observations/2022-23/IMG_4925.jpg?itok=2V7BrhAe)
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
High
Coordinates