December 5
Mineral Fork
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
7000-10k, angles over 35°, north and east facing.
Snow conditions
A little snow lingers on the lower trail. The area near the waterfall, where the trail has washed out, is a sheet of ice, wall to wall(see journal).
Skiing is possible from the base of the Santiago slide path. Snow is a mixed bag of wind damage.Use your imagination.
The upper bowl-"room of doom" is much the same.
Little change from November 3. Wet debris pile is still visible.
A skiff to an inch of snow fell during the day, covering potential core shots and "hard slick crusts". It appeared to bond well.
Weather
Overcast to obscure skies, moderate temperatures. Winds were light.
Snow pit
Pole probing in the upper bowl indicated 12-24". Boilerplate, breakable and supportable wind crusts were mixed in with a few areas of wind scuffed.
Evaluation
Snow was stable on all aspects at all elevations. Future instability would be dependent on bonding of new snow to the old winded surface.
Now, before you get all confused about faceting,
it doen't matter in this wind blasted snow cover.
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