February 22
Location:
Started at Church fork trailhead ascending to the summit of Grandeur peak.
Descended the northeast facing, traversing left a couple of times into the main gully.
Ascended the ridge to the east and continued east to the summit of the next peak. Descended the northeast face to the flats.
Ascended to the east continuing to the shoulder of the next peak descending the north face to the flat
Ascended the down track cutting off on the ridge to the east, summiting the peak and descending,
north facing,
continuing out on a jeep road eventually reaching the ranch exit in Parleys.
Weather:
Overcast to partly cloudy. Some westerly breezes, less than 15mph. Cool temperatures.
Snow:
Snow was melting and crusty on the lower angled south facing, with some breakable crusts on the off aspects. North facing remains soft and creamy. There was some sensitive drifting from the recent wind, both along the ridge and cross loaded down in the drainages. Cornice kicking on Grandeur produced cracking and a little slab release, which didn’t move far. A mid slope sub ridge lower on the northeast face produced two small soft slab releases, less than twenty feet wide but, because of the angle of 40+ degrees, both ran several hundred vertical. The drainages to the east didn’t have the same drifting and no other slides were triggered
Bottom Line:
Snow is mostly stable. There are localized areas with drifting, primarily having an east component, which were active today. I’d expect those to have mostly settled, however I’d expect a lingering isolated potential. Wet slides may be more common with the forecasted warmer and sunny prediction.