January 29
Reynolds-Wilson-Alexander Basin-Gobblers
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
6200-10400', angles approaching 40°, all aspects
Snow conditions
4-6" of new snow over a variable base consisting of soft settled snow from the previous storm and crusts, both wind and sun. Winds from the wnw have once again blown the new snow around leaving drifts and scouring in exposed terrain.
Zoomed photo of Broads illustrating wind drifting pattern and recent slide activity.
Drifting was mostly non-reactive to cornice drops and ski cuts but, deeper drifts were simply avoided. Out of the wind, new snow was well bonded and stable. Sun warming and day time heating made for sticky snow and did produce some point release sluffing and rollers within the new. Aspects exposed to warming crusted with cooling.
Weather
Clear and sunny. Winds continued from the northwest into the late afternoon, gusting to around 30 mph along the ridges. Moderate temperatures.
Evaluation
Fluff followed by wind. What else is new. Storm snow should be mostly stable with settlement. Wind drifting seemed reluctant to move but, would expect some lingering instability within recent drifts. A large avalanche observed in the east chute of Alexander Basin,
from the previous wind event on Tuesday, suggests deeper releases into older layering may still be possible.
© wowasatch.com