January 6
Location:
Started at the Alta guard station ascending to Cardiff pass
I wanted to see the slide on Cardiac. There's a gallery page of the slide with more pictures here
continued to the west eventually reaching the shoulder of Little Superior buttress. Descended two pitches to the flats.
Ascended the common route to the top of Superior, descending Cardiac bowl two pitches to the flats.
Weather:
Bluebird for most of the day with some high clouds passing by at times. There was little wind and mild temperatures.
Snow:
Snow was for the most part creamy with some crusting on the south facing and some wind damage found in localized areas on other aspects.
BMFRs
resting
Ascended the slide path and then traversed to the ridge of Caridac ridge
descending into upper Mineral and out Mineral to the road.
The entry into and ski out Mineral confirmed earlier suspicions of the slide cycle there, with debri piles in Santiagos and Marietos? run outs. A couple of blown in crowns were also visible.
No other slides noted.
Bottom Line:
Snow is mostly stable with only the unluckiest of person’s likely to trigger one of the big ones.