January 1
Park City ridge for a look and see.
Willow and Beartrap
Snow Conditions
South facing had a thin crust as did the majority of se and sw. Some of those melted with warming. The shady side was mostly wind affected with an additional wind crust capping the recent riming and dense snow. Looked at both the Monitors, kicking cornices, which bounced down the slope, dissuading entry, although it was possible.
South Monitor Merry Christmas slide.
Skiing Wills hill, Dutches and Beartrap was all stiff wind crusted snow into the low angled wind protected.
Weather
Overcast, with wind from the west, gusting to around 30 mph. Mild temperatures.
Avalanche activity
Dutches, a "Merry Christmas" slide.
Observation from December 24.
I had good views of the control work done in McDonalds
Of interest, was the lack of any large recent crowns on Dutches and east facing 9990.
The slide was massive, taking out the entire cone bowl from the rocky ridge all the way over to Owen's line. The lower break over in Owen's also slid deep. Slide ran full track taking out small trees in it's path.
From a distance
Closer
cone hang fire
You go first.
Will's Hill
Reportedly triggered from below on December 28.
Snow pit
Evaluation
Another wind event, another cap over weak layering. As before and into the near future:
Potential for avalanche remains but, triggering is more difficult and may occur well down the hill, with a fall, hard ski cut, finding a weak shallow area next to rocks etc. Time to start looking over the shoulder during the descent.
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