Observation type
Snowpack
Observer
Graupel
Keep me anonymous if published
no 
Location (general area)
Kratka
Date (yyyymmdd)
20170323
Time
10:00
Road conditions to area
Icy (but completely melted and dried by the time I headed back)
Temperature
~32° F (0° C)
Sky
clear (no clouds) 
Wind speed
Light (1-16mph Flags/twigs in motion)
Wind direction
NE
Slope aspect
not observed 
Elevation
6700'–7400'
Snow depth
0"–24" (0"—60 cm)
Boot/ Ski penetration
PS 0.5 cm
Precipitation
Light 
Activity, recent avalanches
No
Whumphing noises, shooting cracks. collapsing
no
Rapid warming
yes
Obvious avalanche path
yes
Terrain trap
yes

Comment
I swear there's a weatherman conspiracy. WM says 1"-6" Wed., low of 39° F, Thurs cloudy morning w/ chance of snow showers which break at 11:00, and hig of 41° F. Nearly the exact opposite was true.
Temp near (slightly below) freezing at 10:00 and cloudless. Snow was rock hard. I saw my brother Rime on on the snow surface and in the trees.
Sure glad i tuned my edges last night b/c the first skin up was sooper (d)icey!
By 10:45 the far west of the bowl (ENE aspect) was really in form. Hero snow.
By 11:30, not much had changed. I did the same run.
At noon, the clouds started to roll in (and warm up the snow), but they went away. By 12:15, lift line (N aspect) was super in form.
I managed to catch the "Log Chute" at 1:15.
 
The far west (slalom course?) was burnt out. Most flat places were burnt out. It won't last here much longer.
 
FWIW, there was trace snow below Cloudburst Summit. There are still a few possible lines on Avy Canyon (if your are willing to hike the bottom 1/4 of the run. There is one run down lookers right of Robin's @Waterman ("The Face"). Chair 3 still looks in form if you're willing to hike on dirt to get to it.
 
Very soon I won't even bring my skins to Kratka. There is a gap in the fire road which got noticeably bigger in the four hours I was there; i.e. it will be a boot-up zone from here on out.
 
I think Split-bike season is upon us =D

Publish this observation
Yes I would like this observation Published

An old Kratka lifts trail map. (I shamelessly stole this off the web somewhere)