April 4

Porter Fork-West Porter-Neffs

Elevations, slope angles and aspects

5200-9800', angles over 35°, all aspects except south facing

Snow conditions

Settled new snow depth was 8-12".

The underlying rain crust was supportable, a little slick in scoured areas.

Clear skies overnight, provided dry powder into the afternoon on northwest facing.

Clouds and cool temperatures eased the warming with only a few wet point releases observed on sunny slopes.

Weather

Clear to partly cloudy skies, moderate temperatures. Light wind from the west, occasional gusts to around 20 mph.

Avalanche activity

Northwest wind during the storm created some new snow shallow drifts.

Ski cutting in the morning activated one of those

neffs-slider

which produced a slide up to a foot deep and about 40 feet wide. It ran out into the apron of the slope, about 500 vertical feet.

By afternoon, settlement eased the sensitivity, no other slides.

UDOT avalanche control produced a good sized slide in Stairs gulch

stairs-crown

which ran several thousand vertical.

stairs-gulch

Evaluation

Mostly stable snow in the area.

Would expect scattered active wind drifting on the shady side with wet activity in the sun.

Warm temperatures may also loosen damp snow at mid and lower elevations.

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