April 13
Area:
Alta perimeter
Elevations, slope angles and aspects:
8500’-10600’, angles to 45°, all aspects.
Avalanche activity:
Watched an explosive triggered slide mid Devils Castle traverse, 60’wide running a coupla hundred feet.
New snow only. The rest of the explosives produced mainly black holes. Wet activity of the roller and point release variety on both east and west facing, with a southerly component. East started around 11 am. Some isolated cracking around the skis.
Slopes skied:
East castle. Southeast facing Pt. Supreme, Rocky point headwall, started down the northeast chute on Tuscarora booting back up because it was boilerplate, Wolverine bowl to Lake Martha and the west face of Patsy Marly.
Snow surface and conditions:
New snow had settled to around 2-4” helped by northerly winds in the morning. Further settlement occurred during the day. There was once again a patchwork of drifted and scoured, with drifting primarily on the east and southeast faces. As usual channeling and cross loading occurred. Wind drifts were stuck in place encouraged by the settlement. Wet activity was limited because of the shallow depth of the new snow. Ski cutting in the late afternoon on a west face produced nothing more than roller as did earlier cuts on east facing. Off aspects received enough heating to crust.
Weather:
Bluebird with cool temperatures into the early afternoon. Winds from the north gusting to perhaps 15 mph and decreasing as the day progressed. A few clouds in the afternoon.
Evaluation:
Less snow with this storm decrease the likelihood of activity both wet and dry. Good settlement today also helps. I’d expect some isolated active wind drift potential and a bit more wet activity, limited to the shallow new snow with day time heating. Some limited potential of slides to the old snow surface from early in the week.
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