December 13
Brighton to Catherine's
Rocky point-Dog lake
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
8-10k, angles over 35°, all aspects except south facing.
Snow conditions
6-8" new snow over a variety of old surfaces. Strong prefrontal sw winds had the most impact near the ridges, scouring the surface to the rain crust in some areas and leaving wind drifts of over a foot deep in others, under the new snow. No collapsing was felt, although falling through the rain crust into older layering, occurred a number of times on the approach in shallow, mainly rocky areas. Kicking newly formed drifts from the post frontal nw winds produced a cornice fall or two, without propogation. A little surface sluffing of the new snow on angles over 35°. Dog Lake chute, elevation around 9000', had much weaker underlying snow, with support of the rain crust, marginal.
No natural avalanche activity was observed.
Weather
Light to moderate snowfall early in the day, decreasing with partial clearing in the afternoon. Winds from the wnw, gusting to 20 mph along the ridges. Cool temperatures.
Snow pit
Evaluation
Mostly stable snow in the Catherine's area. Instability would be from drifting, with some concern for release into old layering, because of variability caused by the sw winds. Mid elevations, with much weaker snow, currently lack required load for release into old snow. The added weight of a long running sluff could be enough to initiate a deeper release, as could a period of stronger wind, creating slab formation.
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