January 9
Grizzly Gulch, East bowl Silver, West bowl Silver, Hideaway, Main Days, Spruces
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7200-10200', angles over 35°, all aspects
Snow conditions
8-12", storm total, over a crusted base. Wind-rime-mf crust, under the new, is capping lighter density snow below. That combination was producing a variable amount of support on both the up and down, I'd call it a little punchy.
Recent avalanche activity observed, was limited to a few cornice falls, producing shallow soft slab slides within new snow, here and there.
Bonding of new snow to the old surface decreased with slope angle. Ski cuts on angles over 35° resulted in new snow sluffing,
the width of the cut, running into lower angled terrain. Cornice kicking had similar results.
Weather
Overcast with light snow all day. Moderate temperatures.Winds were less than 15 mph from the northwest.
Evaluation
Mostly stable snow conditions. Winds and mild temperatures prior to the fluff., have glued dense old snow drifting into place. Light density snow under that dense layering, appears to be non-reactive, at present. Warm dense over cold light, may have a temperature gradient, with future faceting possible. Settlement and numerous caps over the deep slab facet-crust-facet weakness has limited but not eliminated potential for large destructive avalanches.
Best to bump it up one notch at a time.
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