December 30
Reynolds-Soldier Fork
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7200-9200', angles approaching 45°, all aspects.
Snow conditions
The Mill D north fork trail has been groomed, nicely. South faces and off aspects had a melt freeze crust, which softened with warming, producing snow cone like skiing with proper timing. Shady aspects have a soft rime crust, capping dense settled snow. Thin wind drifts and scouring are scattered around, in exposed terrain.
Weather
Clear and sunny, with light winds, increasing a bit from the west in the afternoon. Mild temperatures.
Avalanche activity
A look at the north face of Kessler, UDOT bombing result.
Soldier Fork had a large slide, probably running at close to the same time as Alexander Basin and Gobblers Knob, now called the "Merry Christmas" avalanche cycle.
The slide was about 200' wide, up to 4' deep, running into the flats at the bottom. Collapse failure on faceted snow above two closely spaced thick crusts, leaving crusts and six inches of very dense snow on the ground. The entire face did not slide, leaving questionable snow on the flanks.
Another slide was observed along the northeast facing lower Wilson ridge line. Appeared to be a medium sized pocket. No activity was observed in Wilson chutes.
Diving board in Broads
Butler basin, northeast facing, hidden bowl. Raymond in the background.
Snow pit
Evaluation
Settlement has resulted in a thick cap of dense rimed and wind blown snow over weak lower layering. Potential for avalanche remains but, triggering is more difficult and may occur well down the hill, with a fall, hard ski cut, finding a weak shallow area next to rocks etc. Time to start looking over the shoulder during the descent.
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