Observation type
Snowpack

Observer
Anonymous 

Keep me anonymous if published
yes

Location (general area)
Mt. Hawkins

Latitude

Longitude

Date (yyyymmdd)
20220123

Time
1PM

Road conditions to area
Clear

Temperature
40

Sky
clear (no clouds)

Wind speed
Light (1-16mph Flags/twigs in motion)

Wind direction
not observed

Wind direction in degrees

Slope aspect
North

Aspect in degrees

Slope angle
30

Elevation
8500

Snow depth

Boot/ Ski penetration
0

Precipitation
None

Activity, recent avalanches
No

Brief description

Whumphing noises, shooting cracks. collapsing
no

Rapid warming
no

Comment
We skied the N facing trees on the shoulder of Mt. Hawkins. On our skin from Islip Saddle, it was apparent that there was a widespread natural avalanche cycle during the last storm - numerous crowns were visible crowns on road cuts and on convexities higher up.

Our initial thought was to ski a solar aspect to take advantage of softening snow, but any warming effects of the sun and air temp seemed to be nullified by the wind, and the E facing terrain remained quite firm. We decided to ski the N facing trees, as we thought the crust would be less robust (more for safety than ski quality) and thought we could potentially even find some NSF (none to be found, as expected). The skiing was still quite firm, and we managed risk by sticking to 
A few thoughts on the day:
- Boot/ski crampons + axe were a necessity for safe travel.
- There were a number of old bed surfaces that were easy to miss and were incredibly slick. Keep an eye out for crowns/old debris piles and if you're going to ski a bed surface, do it super carefully!
- Would not recommend skiing in the San Gabriel's right now unless you are highly confident in skiing super firm conditions where a fall at speed could carry some pretty serious consequences.
- Beautiful day out in the mountains! 

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Yes I would like this observation Published

Example of a crown we came across