December 24
Willow-Beartrap-Desolation
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7000-9900', angles approaching 40°, all aspects
Snow conditions
The recent storm snow settled nicely, with depths of 8-14", plus or minus. Winds had once again blown the new into drifts on the lee side, scouring windward. Swirling winds added variability to that activity. South facing was receiving enough sun to get a little damp. No collapsing was felt.
Weather
Partly cloudy skies, occasional gusty winds to 20 mph and moderate temperatures. Clouds increased by late afternoon
Avalanche activity
Another scenic tour
West willow ridge
There were two separate slides, with a large area in the middle that didn't slide, nor could I see evidence of stress fractures joining the two. Dimensions of each slide were about the same. 250' wide, running about 500 vertical feet. Crowns were up to 4'.
Upper crown
Slides ran on the rain crust, leaving it in place. A lower, dissolving crust was found in some places along the crown but, the snow under the crust mostly consists of 8-12" of large, loose facets.
A quick pit from November 28,
Snow pit
shear test results
I had good views of the control work done in McDonalds
.Of interest, was the lack of any large recent crowns on Dutches and east facing 9990.
West Desolation ridge
I observed a slide on the west Desolation ridge, peak 9870? Once again, investigation revealed two slides, crown lacking in the middle (thick trees descending from the peak).
Skier's right side of the peak had a slide of about 200'.
The entire skier's far right side of this bowl, similar terrain, lacks a crown. The crown was up about 4', once again.
That's artsy!
Skier's right side produced an impressive slide, wall to wall. Guessing the dimensions at 150 yards wide, descending 800 vertical feet, stripping branchs from trees, in it's wake.
Crown depth, 8' in places.
I was hoping to have an up close and personal with Reynolds face. Got sidetracked by the Deso slide.
Reynolds face
two crowns
This photo, from December 14th
shows weak faceted snow under the crust and a very shallow snow pack.
Evaluation
Continuing the trend begun, what?, two weeks ago, now.
Pieces of the snow pack continue popping out with every wind or snow event. Some, very large slides, wall to wall, at the ground... others, a portion of the path, running on crust, leaving weak, large grained facets behind.
The "Big Kahuna", currently forecast as the last in the series, may provide final answers, if it follows through, as forecast.
Proceed with caution
In case a person thinks this is rare, seldom an issue in the user friendly Wasatch mountains
Doesn't do it for ya?
Explosive triggered slide cycle.
Apologies for the primitive slide show and poor photos. Computer skills increase with time in the chair
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