After a two year hiatus, started the season with a great tour to an old favorite. Due to low snow levels (60-65 cm) we only trusted a known grassy slope and were rewarded with some great turns on low angle terrain, supportable base with 16 cm of hero snow on top. Lower Kilowatt Bowl had sufficient coverage, add in a bluebird day, inversion temperatures, and you have a great way to start this ski season.
Our stablility eval is promising, with no nasty surprises buried deep, but rather a strengthening bridge of snow over the very early season layer. This seems like Brett's earlier assessment of the Central Wasatch, but that has now changed for that area, and the same could happen on the plateau.
While the wind has done its damage on exposed ridgelines, and has filtered through stand of spruce, the protected shots were really fun.
Here's our ob pit:
Slight fog was hanging the lower pockets early in the morning and burned off in the first couple of hours. As we ascended, the temps climbed right along with us. Skiing down into the bottom of the drainage, you could feel the temps drop.
The bigger picture is a little different. While the pack is starting to pile up in this part of the Plateau, further south, there is still a very shallow pack (at least that is what the snotel sites are reporting). Shallow pack had prevented access to more extreme terrain, but looking from the road, we still have a ways to go in building the pack up to a respectable depth.
With the first avalanche fatality reported today at Moffit Basin in the Western Unitas, the variability of hazard statewide is evident
While stomping on the GE Hill roadside test slope, refrigerator sized hard chunks really snapped out with one stiff kick. Natural activity off Wedding Ring Ridge also had cornice chunks that rolled to a stop without breaking down or triggering anything.
With the cornices that sensitive and that hard, the potential exists for really getting into trouble off the highest ridgelines. The last thing I want to do is roll down the slope with a bunch of those bad-boys.
I hope to make weekly additions to the blog as the season progresses, have the time this winter to get back into regular biweekly ski tours.
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