January 19
Area:
Porter to Neffs
Elevations, slope angles and aspects:
5700’-9800’, angles to 40°+, all aspects minus south facing.
Avalanche activity:
A bit of surface sluffing on steeper hills, not moving very far. Some dinner plating shallow crusts, only breaking around skis and not moving, up to about 4” thick.
Slopes skied:
West chute north facing from upper Neffs ridge, north slide path in Neffs and the northwest facing from near the summit ridge of the north slide path, out neffs.
Snow surface and conditions:
Surface hoar present from the trailhead to near the Apex peak and to near the trailhead in Neffs.
Most was small grained except near the creeks. Shallow wind crusts were widespread on northwest facing in Neffs. These are starting to rot out and many but not all can be skied through. Out of wind affected the snow is sandboxing and support is marginal in isolated areas. A wider platform prevents sinking through but, I wouldn’t have enjoyed either the ups or downs on narrow skis. South facing got a good warm up and some isolated rollers were noted off the rocks in Mill B north fork.
Weather:
Warmest day in a week. Clear and sunny without wind even on the ridges. The inversion is creeping into lower elevations.
Evaluation:
Snow is stable with some isolated potential for surface sluffing running distance on very steep slopes and an isolated possibility of a shallow hard slab triggered by an unlucky person. Snow continues to rot and I’d expect it may rot to the ground in shallow covered locations if moderate temperatures and high pressure continue.
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