November 12

Brighton to Wolverine

Elevations, slope angles and aspects:

8000-10400', angles approaching 40°, north and east facing aspects.

Avalanche activity:

Roof slide at the Wasatch mountain club lodge and increased creep from mild temperatures.

wmc-roof-slide

Ski cut fracture

fracture

Looking up at the entry, ski cuts and crown

gunsite-crown

ESE facing Tuscarora.

tuscarora

10k elevation. Slide was 2-8" deep about 30' wide and ran about 300 vertical, initiating on the third ski cut.

slide-path

Snow conditions:

There was an inch or two of very dense new snow at the base. Amounts didn't increase much with elevation gain but, did become more supportable and a little drier. Above about 8500' a noticeable thin rime crust had formed, the result of foggy very moist air. Crust was present on the summit of Wolverine.

Snow pit testing produced three shears. Upper shear at the old surface from Sunday was moderate Q1. Lower shears were hard, one on a light density layer about 10" above the ground, also found in Mineral Fork and one in damp old facets just above the October snow.

wolverine-snow-profile

Weather:

Mild temperatures with overcast skies. Cloud ceiling was around 9000' Above that elevation, walking and skiing in the fog. Winds along the upper ridges were gusting to around 30 mph. not a lot of wind off the ridges.

Evaluation:

Dense rime crusted snow with, upper elevation instabilities, from the last several days of nw wind. Current forecast suggesting continued wind may induce some localized hard slab instability before mild temperatures settle the new snow.

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