May 6
Area:
Upper Cardiff via the Alta guard station.
Elevations, slope angles and aspects:
8300’-11000’, angles to 40°, all aspects.
Slopes skied:
Keyhole entry from Powerline ridge,
Cardiac ridge from the ridge, Cardiac bowl skier’s right from the top,
Black Knob ne facing and Cardiff bowl back to Alta.
Avalanche activity:
New snow sluffs and point releases, both ski cut and natural activity observed.
Ski cuts initiated sluffs early in the day on angles over 35°.
Snow surface and conditions:
Most recent accumulation of 8’-10’ added to the previous settled storm snow for a total of around 16”. Snow surface was cool and dry early in the day. Heating dampened the most recent, with resulting wet activity, limited to upper layers. It did not heat enough to produce more than rollers and point release sluffing, even by the early afternoon exit down south facing. I’d suspect more widespread activity was the case on sun exposed by late afternoon. There was enough heating to crust all surfaces when it cools back down.
Weather:
Overcast with light snow showers and gusty northwest winds early in the day. Clearing as the day progressed resulted in decreasing wind and mild temperatures.
Evaluation:
Currently stable snow. The end of the storm combined with strong May sun and warm temperatures will likely result in widespread wet slide activity, limited to new snow over the old firm and crusted old surface.
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