Observation Date
1/13/2014
Observer Name
PE2
Region
Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Mill D North » Butler Fork » Reynolds Peak
Location Name or Route
Reynolds Glades, Reynolds
Weather
Weather Comments
Beginning of the trip was pretty tame. Mild snowfall, minimal wind. As the hours passed the storm moved on, the clouds cleared, and the wind picked up out of the west. If you let your grip loose of anything atop of Reynolds Peak anytime after noon it would have blown away. Reynolds bowl had a pretty blanket of wind effected snow. The wind pillows in the bowl were concentrated to the middle and lower angle areas, and were not all that large. It made for a nice visual. And it skied well.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
Low
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Rain-Rime Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
There was rime/drizzle widespread throughout all aspects and elevations traveled today. It seemed to be noticeable almost everywhere, but you could be cruising along the skin track and lose feeling of it. It was audible; dragging your pole through it on the way up and slashing though it on the way down. On Reynolds Peak it was about all you could find. The top 100’ on the N and E ridge was wind scoured and the thin punchy crust is all that was left. I have a feeling that this crust is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. There are other weaker layers that are waiting on a trigger. I suspect that when Reynolds avalanches, the weak layer will be deeper than this most recent crust. We did feel the zipper crust on the northern descent of Reynolds, and it may hold a little weight but the big picture would include the entire 2’ of storm snow plus wind loaded snow. With the way the winds were blowing out of the west this afternoon I would expect most of the loose snow along the ridge lines to be transported into the bowl. Reynolds Glades was excellent! 50-100’ off the peaks the powder was fantastic!!
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
Traveling along the beginning of the Mill D trail, the new snow was blowing around and filling in the skin track and was not bonding well to the rime crust.
Along Reynolds Peak there were a few cornices that had crumpled, causing very shallow wind slabs to give way. The did not really do much besides collapse and chunk up the surface of the snow. They did not entrain any snow, nor did they step down to any subsurface layers. There were not any collapses noticed on the way up. In most places if you got off the skin track and tried to pole plant you could push all the way to the ground, which was about the length of a 52” pole. As for collapsing on the way down, it is hard to say. I did not feel any substantial collapsing (stuff that makes your vision drop by an inch or two), but I bet there was a little bit with within the wind slabs sitting on top of that zipper crust. The snow below the crust was pretty fluffy.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
The wind picked up in the afternoon. There was enough loose snow to blow around to make any open bowl seem suspect.
Avalanche Problem #2
Problem
Persistent Weak Layer
Trend
Same
Problem #2 Comments
Now we have several series of storm snow. There were several curst layers that I found in the most detailed pit that was dug at 8500’ N facing. Each sandwiched layer between the crusts was about 8-12”. The top layer, below the rime crust, about 8” deep was 4F. The next 8” of settled snow was 1F, a curst, and more 8” of 1F settled snow. I attempted a ECT on a relatively flat area and did not get any dramatic results. I had to pound pretty hard to get any resemblance of a sheer. The new storm snow practically mushed with the load. Each crusty layer did not hold up to much abuse, meaning that the slide that would happen in that area would most likely step down to the solid facet layer dating back to November.
This new snow will create a slab but not a super dense one. When we get more of a load it is difficult to tell how deep the crown will be. Each of the crusts did not seem like it would withstand any major stressing and the slab is pretty soft. So in the Reynolds Bowl, I am thinking that it will most likely step down to the old facets from November...which will be deep.
Comments
If it was not for the wind, today would have been perfect. It was still great nonetheless. T and I only saw 2 people today, but we did not see any of their tracks. We broke fresh trail from about fork in Mill D of Deso and Dog lakes. Reynolds glades was clean before we got there. Powder, powder, powder. Tomorrow will be blazing sunshine. Do not forget your sunscreen. Tomorrow will probably be considerable in most of the open wind loaded areas. I am hoping the winds stay around the tops of all the peaks and do not blow throughout the bowls.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Considerable
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Considerable
