December 20
Bowman trail, Yellow Jacket
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
6400-9400', angles over 35°, north and west facing aspects.
Snow conditions
2-6" new light density snow over a variable old surface.
Rime crust from the 17th was almost un-noticable until the Yellow Jacket-Alexander Basin ridgeline.
Herky jerky skiing for a coupla turns then, soft and creamy.
New snow sluffing on thicker, stouter crust near the ridge.
Lower elevations are supportable with enough base to ski(on trails) to parking.
Weather
Light snow all day, moderate temperatures with light wind.
Snow pit
Evaluation
Good stability with supportable snow in the area traveled.
Weather guessers are suggesting heavy snow combined with periods of high wind so...
New snow-rime crust will not support much load, sluffing and shallow slides when loaded are likely.
There are several crust facet sandwiches which could activate however, older larger facets at and near the ground are the primary instability concern.
If the current guess of several inches water weight is added, good safe skiing is possible after Christmas.
Fingers crossed.
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