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Observation: Cardiff Fork

Observation Date
4/22/2023
Observer Name
Coyne/ Kelly
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork
Location Name or Route
Upper Peak
Weather
Sky
Overcast
Precipitation
Light Snowfall
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Calm
Weather Comments
Skies were mostly obscured with periods of overcast and some spots of blue later in the afternoon. Cloud deck was in/out and mostly out with limited visibility above 10,200'.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Depth
4"
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Snow Characteristics Comments
Snow surface was primarily surfy powder snow with the frozen dirt layer under the new snow. Lower angle smooth bed surface was better skiing and steep terrain was more scratchy underneath. We traveled on all aspects 8800'-10,100' and found good riding conditions on smoother lower angle slopes.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wind Drifted Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
We observed small wind-drifted snow avalanches 4-6" deep on south-east facing slopes that were isolated to rider tracks and appeared to break on the frozen dirt layer. None of these were big or deep enough to catch or push a rider around in terrain we travelled in today. I would imagine in steeper wind-drifted terrain closer to the ridgetops you could find a pocket that would be big enough to push a rider around.
The photos below were on an east facing slope that had previous wind loading. This was isolated to the upper ridgetops and while it had some propagation it was stubborn and did not slide down slope very far. Average depth was 6" and 10" at the deepest about 25' wide and not running very far at all. Lower on the slope on a steep (40˚ slope) with no wind loading I was not able to get any snow to move downhill. The new snow was less reactive today than yesterday in upper BCC and LCC.
Comments
The cornices were HUGE! In some places we had to reroute our travel plans to not go underneath these behemoths.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates