December 21
Area:
White Pine
Location:
Red Baldy, Long John Silver
Elevation, slope angles and aspects:
7500’-11’000’, angles to 40°, north-southwest
Avalanche activity:
Recent slide on Red Baldy, several days old, looker’s right out of one of the chutes. Up to 2’ crown, running 800’vertical and 50’? wide. Result of one of the periods of wind. No other recent activity.
Slopes skied:
Red Baldy from the summit and Long John Silver (west facing in the east pass area)
Snow surface and conditions:
Upper elevations have seen the effects of winds from various directions with most receiving some damage. There was scattered drifting on Red Baldy, but non of the drifts appeared reactive to ski cutting. Out of the wind about 8” settled snow from the last snowfall. The lowest elevations had widespread surface hoar formation combined with near surface faceting. I did see a couple of rollers in the late afternoon on west facing.
Weather:
Clear skies light winds and cool temperatures
Snow Pit:
None
Evaluation:
Most areas stable. There is some lingering potential for activity from wind drifting as evidenced by the Red Baldy slide. Would consider that an isolated problem. New snow bonding to old surface would be dependent on the way the storm comes in. I’d expect good but variable bonding because of the variability of old snow surfaces.
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