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Observation: No Name Baldy

Observation Date
3/23/2025
Observer Name
Champion & Wilson & Whitefields & Fuys
Region
Salt Lake » Little Cottonwood Canyon » Red Pine » No Name Baldy
Location Name or Route
Red Pine - No Name Baldy
Weather
Sky
Broken
Wind Direction
West
Wind Speed
Strong
Weather Comments
Started early to get ahead of the incoming warm temperatures. Clouds were broken to overcast in the morning and stayed that way for most of the tour. As we ascended the ridgeline between White Baldy and No Name Baldy, visibility became fully obscured—we couldn’t see the peaks or much of anything around us but could see that the cloud deck ended below us a bit. Winds remained elevated throughout, with strong to very strong gusts at the upper elevations. We expected them to ease, but they never did before we decided to head down. By the time we were descending, the sun was breaking through in parts of the sky and canyon, but the high peaks and ridgelines stayed socked in until after 1:30 PM.
Snow Characteristics
New Snow Density
Medium
Snow Surface Conditions
Powder
Dense Loose
Wind Crust
Snow Characteristics Comments
The snow surface was mostly preserved or rimed graupel and stellars, wind-affected snow, or soft, settled powder in the trees. While we found graupel in some areas, it wasn’t widespread—it had either been blown away or didn’t accumulate as much as it did in Upper Little Cottonwood. We didn’t see any signs of graupel pooling throughout our travels.
The wind effect was obvious and ongoing, with widespread surface texture, even down to some mid-elevations like the lake. Cornices were continuing to grow.
Snow Surface
Wind drifted snow surface near Lake Shot
Additional wind texture near 9000'
Red Flags
Red Flags
Wind Loading
Red Flags Comments
Primary red flag we experienced was the strong wind loading.
Comments
The goal for the day was to step into bigger terrain, assess the wind-drifted snow, and see how the warm temperatures impacted the snow surface. We expected elevated winds in the morning but also anticipated them—and the cloud cover—to ease earlier. Instead, the winds remained strong throughout the day, gusting up to 50 mph at 11,000 feet into the late afternoon. Snow was actively being transported along ridgelines and even down into mid-elevations.
Despite significant wind activity, we didn’t experience widespread instability in wind-drifted snow. Cracking and collapsing were minimal, and while some areas felt hollow and slabby, breaking off small chunks of drifted snow, these slabs didn’t seem widespread or well-connected in the areas we traveled. Most surfaces were very firm, reinforcing what Dave mentioned this morning—slopes were allowing travel farther out onto them.
Graupel seemed like a key component. Areas that received more of it showed slightly more instability in the wind-drifted snow. While graupel was obvious in places on the surface, it never accumulated more than an inch and didn’t appear to pool in many areas.
In the Red Pine/White Pine drainage, a growing concern would be the increasing size of cornices. Throughout the day, the ridgeline between White Baldy, No Name Baldy, and the Pfeifferhorn took a beating from the wind. With warming temperatures and decreasing winds in the coming days, I’d be wary of those large cornices breaking loose.
The winds helped keep the snow surface in check while we traveled. It was cooler than expected, but by the time we exited the White Pine trailhead, even lower-elevation north-facing slopes that weren’t shaded had started to dampen.
Visibility on No Name Baldy
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
None
Coordinates