December 16
Lower Solitude, Willow Heights, Will's Hill, south facing Willow, Dutches Draw, Beartrap
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7800-10200', angles over 35°, all aspects.
Snow conditions
12" plus or minus of new and recent snow over a variable old surface.
New snow was right side up and well bonded.
The old snow surface on south and west facing is a mostly supportable crust.
Lower elevations retain thin cover with brush, rocks, stumps etc exposed or barely concealed under the fresh.
Sheltered shady aspects are patches of this and that including unsupportable.
Total snow is around two feet in the area traveled.
Weather
Overcast skies with snow flurries all day.
Cold temperatures with variable wind, gusting to around 20mph from the south and west.
Avalanche activity
Observations from November noted "Scouring along the ridges and upper bowls from north wind a week or so ago provide thin cover on entry"
That "thin cover" was reactive today in Dutches..
Wind drifting cracked out in Owens on the approach.
Stress fractures were observed across the entire bowl extending down about 20'.
Investigation revealed less than a foot of weak, shallow snow under the drifting
Evaluation
Good stability in the area. No natural activity was observed. No cracking or collapsing with the Owen's line exception.
Weather guessers have a series of storms through Christmas so...
Future stability will be dependent on snow amount, wind and bonding.
There are a variety of weak layers including several crust-facet sandwiches with large well developed facets for a base.
Starting zones on upper elevation exposed terrain are prime suspects.
Question is: will it snow enough to clean out or best to buy Depends for the future?
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