Greetings West Coasters,
Considering the limitations of terrain that I would want to be on right now, we opted to give bigger areas a miss today and do a short day tour up at Diamond Head/Paul Ridge Area, thinking there could me more options for skiing low angle terrain.
Just below the high point of Paul Ridge, the total snowpack depth was around 160 cm . We decided to have a look in the snow. About the sketchiest I have ever seen it up there. At the site we dug our profile, we found 110 cm of mostly unconsolidated snow sitting on 15 cm of ballbearing facets above the hard crust that was buried in early Dec. We also found a (almost hidden) 3-5mm surface hoar layer down 75cm below the snow surface. The surface hoar layer sheared easily with a ‘pop’, and the facet layer was so weak it was almost falling out of the pit.
Even though the trail breaking was not difficult (skis only penetrated 25 cm), stepping out of the skis had us sinking almost up to our waists.
Heavy ‘Whumfs’ reverberating in the snowpack near ridgetop had me really thinking about the terrain I wanted to be on. Sure enough, we were able to trigger a LARGE size 2 avalanche (from jumping on safe terrain above the slope, after I had someone watch from the side to make sure there was no skiers/boarders below). It was at the top of the widest bowl off the north side of Round Mountain (NE Side) for those that know the terrain. The avalanche was 60-85 cm deep, 60 m wide, running 150m down almost to the flats. Even though the failure plane was on the surface hoar, I think it would have stepped down to the facets and crust if the terrain had been bigger (wider and longer bowl), or the slab properties a bit stiffer.
There was plenty of blower pow to be had up there, but have to admit there are many lines up there I wouldn’t touch today.
Many groups heading into the Elfin Lakes hut for New Years. Good time to use the designated ‘winter route’ with the orange stakes.
Keep in mind this weak snowpack is very unusual for the Coast, and is not likely to heal quickly. Stick to low angle terrain, well away from avalanche slopes above. If you are not really sure what this means, or have difficulty holding back when you see those big powder lines, it might be best to enjoy the in-bounds slopes for a while.
Brian Gould
Mountain Guide