November 6
Alta-Devil's Castle
Elevations, slope angles and aspects
8300-10400', angles over 40°, north and east facing aspects.
Snow conditions
6" or so on snow cat packed surfaces at the trail head(not including man made) increased to over 30" above 10k.
The snow was crusted, sun exposed quite stout, shady almost indistinguishable especially at upper elevations.
Shady slopes skied well with exit on kitty litter. Rocks were, for the most part, observable and avoidable.
Weather
Sunny to partly cloudy. Winds from the south at around 15 mph below exposed ridges. Mild temperatures.
Snow pit
Evaluation
Stable snow on all aspects, at all elevations. no recent wet activity was observed.
There was a bit of surface-near surface faceting observed but, hand squeezing produced easy snowballs.
There is also a weak layer down 6-10". Snow pit testing suggest it will take a good load prior to activation.
Weather guessers indicate snow on the way. Bonding of new snow to the current surface will determine instabilities.
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