November 27
I saw Joni in the parking lot at the end of the LCC road and thought she may be interested in joioning us.
She wasn't cuz she already had two guys chasing her.
Location:
I started at the upper Alta parking ascended the summer road for a short distance and headed east past the homes and into Grizzly Gulch. Ascent continued to the shoulder of the East bowl of Silver Fork, where, after a traverse into the middle, a descent to the first flat was made. Ascended to the east pass continuing west along the ridge to the top of Davenport, where, after a short traverse, a descent of Down and Out was made. Ascended and descended the West Bowl of Silver, ascended again and descended Hideaway off the shoulder into Days Fork. Ascended upper Days to the ridge and descended the skier's right Two Dogs. Ascended again traversing along the ridge and descended Toledo Bowl to Alta guard station
Weather:
Overcast with some light snow flurries during the day. Winds were under 15mph.
Snow:
Perhaps an inch of fresh snow fell today over the several inches, which fell overnight after the winds decreased. I was finding something just over a foot of fresh snow perhaps up to 16 inches in the terrain I passed through. This is substantially less than reported amounts so I'd guess a combination of embellishment and settlement.
Snow was bonded well and only one good sized sluff was initiated during the day.
I experienced several collapses during the day in wind pillows and had the slope crack out but not fracture while ski cutting above Down and Out. There was quite a crowd in the west bowl including the north portions, stability testing without results, a few less in upper Days with similar results. Wind drifts are pockety but hitting a good pocket will stop a person dead in the track
Bottom Line:
The snow is mostly stable lacking a slab and enough of a load to produce significant avalanching. I'd suspect there are active pockets capable of sliding and some of these could be large enough to run some distance carrying the trigger as was indicated in Main Days