February 29
Alexander Basin
Elevations, slope angle and aspects:
6200-10000', angles approaching 40°, north, east and west facing aspects.
Avalanche activity:
Limited to views of recent wet snow point releases
and a little surface sluffing on steep and shady.
Slopes skied:
East chute, main Alexander and the headwall.
Snow conditions:
Old settled snow was found at all elevations. West facing was crusted, but breakable in the morning. Northeast facing had soft snow with a little surface and near surface faceting. That faceting likely melted off as temperatures rose.
Some isolated surface hoar was found at low elevations,
near the creek,
Zoomed
which was also a morning phenomena. Day time heating melted lower angled and sun exposed crusts, providing good fast skiing, with correct timing. Lower elevations got sticky, re-crusted, as they cooled.
Weather:
Partly cloudy skies with increasing winds (10-20mph) from the south in the afternoon.
Mild temperatures.
Evaluation:
Stable snow. Future instabilities would be from wind drifting during the forecast strong prefrontal windy period and a lack of bond between old surface and the few inches forecast by Sunday morning.
© wowasatch.com