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! Publish this observation Yes I would like this observation Published |