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Observation: Whitney Basin

Observation Date
3/21/2015
Observer Name
Ted Scroggin
Region
Uintas » Bear River Ranger District » Whitney Basin
Location Name or Route
Whitney Basin
Weather
Sky
Few
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Light
Weather Comments
Nice clear morning with slightly warmer temperatures than yesterday, a mild refreeze and high thin clouds moving in throughout the afternoon.
Snow Characteristics
Snow Surface Conditions
Melt-Freeze Crust
Damp
Snow Characteristics Comments
Hard frozen tracks this morning that did soften later in the day and mostly supportable riding conditions in the upper Whitney Basin, but loose some elevation and the bottom has started to fall-out of the snow pack. The high north facing terrain was still holding onto some dense drier snow, but lower down on the slope was a breakable crust that did not soften.
Red Flags
Red Flags Comments
No red flags observed, but the day time heating did soften some east and south facing slopes while we were out and about today.
Avalanche Problem #1
Problem
Wet Snow
Trend
Same
Problem #1 Comments
Things seemed pretty quiet in the Whitney area, just some minor wet loose dribblers with the day time warming.
Comments
The south facing terrain even high in the Whitney Basin has melted-out, but turn around to the north and the coverage is still quite good.
Spotted this slab avalanche in some north facing terrain in the upper Weber Drainage, but not sure of the day or timing when it happened. It looks like a natural and possibly a chunk of cornice or snow from above came down and triggered this decent little pocket. Sorry for the bad photo, it was a long distance away.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate