December 19
Area:
North side BCC and Park City ridges
Location:
Solitude to the ridge overlooking West Monitor, descending Will's Hill into Willow continuing down to upper meadow.Up west Willow ridge to Dutches descending Owen's line, east corner, north facing. Runs in Beartrap, west and south facing, exiting Beartrap.
Elevations, slope angles and aspects:
7500'-10200', angles approaching 35°, all aspects.
Avalanche activity:
Sluff initiated ski cutting east facing West Monitor. Started as a point release, spreading with descent and running 3-400' vertical. Involved only new snow and was running on frozen ground or a crust immediatly above since, little old snow was found on that aspect. Several other sluffs were observed in Dutches ne facing produced by descending out of bounds skiers. Starting on breakovers with descent.Cornice kicking produced limited results.
Snow conditions:
6"-14" new snow depending on elevation, with the most in upper elevations, Willow Beartrap and Dutches.Winds from the west-soutwest created a density change within the upper few inches, slowing down the climbing and descending. Some cornice and slab development along lee facing ridges and near ridge slopes. Drifting was also found on west facing in wind rows from those winds.Some isolated cracking but no movement. Sluffing as described above.
Weather:
Overcast to obscure skies. Winds from the west-southwest gusting into the 20 mph range at upper elevations. Moderate temperatures.Partial clearing in the late afternoon.
Snow pit:
Evaluation:
New snow instabilities usually settle quickly and were not a significant problem. Snow pit indicated a poor bond of new snow with the old surface, likely the result of light density and faceted old surface. Some larger grained facets were found near the ground but, were non reactive where observed. With the continued snow fall and wind currently forecast, would expect to see increased activity at both the weak interface bond and a possible return of slides into older snow faceted layering.
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