March 31

Area:
Cardiff-Mineral Fork

Elevations, slope angles and aspects:
7200’-10800’, angles to 40°, all aspects

Avalanche activity:
Some rollers on southeast facing, a shallow slab-loose snow sluff under the large cornice at the top of Cardiac ridge and a mid slope shallow soft slab in upper Mineral Fork.

trigger

skied out

Slopes skied:
Little Superior Buttress northeast facing, no how south of Cardiac ridge northeast facing and Mineral Fork using the Mill B south entry.

Snow surface and conditions:

South facing from the guard station was settled but soft in the early morning. Some recent drifting from the northwest winds along the ridge, stuck in place. North facing was dense and creamy. Timely descents produced no rollers or wet activity. Did see others on east facing get rollers on east facing Cardiac ridge prior to midday. West facing remained dry

into the early afternoon. Drifting from the recent winds extended into mid slope terrain, notably on no how and upper Mineral. Ski cuts produced no activity on the northeast facing but a shallow slide was triggered in upper Mineral. Mid and lower elevations got increasingly saturated with descent in the afternoon, even on the north facing.

Weather:
Partly cloudy with mild temperatures. Winds from the northwest most of the day 10-20 mph.

Evaluation:
Another bout of wind, this time from the northwest added to the wind drifting. Because the old surface was somewhat heated and had some dampness most of these were glued in place. There are localized areas, especially at upper elevations where the wind drifts were active. I’d expect lingering instabilities in those areas, primarily slopes with an easterly component and the additional cross loading from wind channeling on other aspects. Wet activity would be dependent on cloud cover, temperature and humidity.

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