Observation: Scotties Notch

Observation Date

1/11/2026

Observer Name

Matthew M

Region

Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Scotties Bowl » Scotties Notch

Location Name or Route

Scotties Notch

Avalanche Problem #1

Problem

Wind Drifted Snow

Trend

Same

Problem #1 Comments

Found wind drifted snow on the north aspect of Scotties bowl. Did not see and pockets releasing but the snow was heavily wind affected. On lab two up west scotties the snow was becoming very wet and a rollerballs were abundant.

Avalanche Problem #2

Problem

Persistent Weak Layer

Trend

Same

Problem #2 Comments

The CERC was solid but easily broke apart by hand in our pit. The snow below the CERC seems to be very moist and easily packed into snowballs. The snow above the CERC is mostly right side up with the exception of a layer of graupel 60 cm down from surface and another unconsolidated layer 25 cm down. The top 25 cm of new snow doesn't seem to have formed a much of a consolidated slab. We did not get a definitive result in our ECT. We played with that top 25cm layer and found some activity when pulling on it with the shovel head, but couldn't get a consolidated slab to move.

Snow Profile

Aspect

North

Elevation

9,300'

Comments

After digging our pit and skiing west scotties we went back up to ski scotties bowl. West skied well but as we skinned back up it got much warmer and we figured that would be the last of anything solar for a bit. Knowing there are a few weaker layers in the pack, especially on northerlies, had us cautious but based off our pit and tracks we did ski the north pitch. We did not see or feel any instabilities or avalanches while out today.

Today's Observed Danger Rating

Moderate

Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating

Moderate

Coordinates

Snow Pilot URL

https://snowpilot.org/node/78805

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