Avalanche Advisory
Advisory: Skyline Area Mountains Issued by Brett Kobernik for Wednesday - March 29, 2017 - 6:53am
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The avalanche danger starts out LOW this morning but may rise to MODERATE with daytime heating the new snow. The snow may get wet enough to become unstable. Move off and stay out from under steep slopes if they get really wet. Pinwheeling and rollerballing on the surface is an indicator that things are becoming too wet. Steep upper elevation east facing slopes will be the most dangerous since they had the most new snow drifted onto them.
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Be sure to follow @skyline_avalanche on Instagram for quick updates on conditions like the video from Tuesday.
current conditions

Riding conditions on Tuesday were excellent on all aspects in the 8 to 12 inches of new snow. A few areas that were drifted in had a bit more snow. The peaks stayed "socked in" with clouds all day keeping the snow cold in the upper elevations. The snow did become slightly damp below 8000 feet and you will find a thin crust this morning. The wind was generally light to moderate in speed from the northwest. If you get out early today, you'll get treated to cold dense powder before the sun has it's way.

Avalanche conditions were fairly safe on Tuesday although I did find a little weakness within the storm snow in wind effected areas. That said, I did not find things to be very sensitive when cutting and "side hilling" test slopes. The cloud capped upper ridges did keep me from venturing around a whole lot but again, I did not find anything too alarming as far as current avalanche danger was concerned.
recent activity

I did find one significant avalanche on an east facing slope that released at just above 10,000 feet in the south fork of Spring City Canyon. The avalanche was at least 200 feet wide and produced a large enough pile of debris that you wouldn't want to be caught in. There were a few inches of new snow on the debris which tells me it released sometime near the end of the storm on Monday night, probably around 9pm when the northwest wind picked up in speed. This slope is a "frequent offender" and avalanches often. This slide was most likely triggered from a cornice fall onto the 40 degree plus slope. I'm assuming I'll find a few more of these that released during the storm as I look around today.
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general announcements

We will publish full detailed advisories Saturday and Sunday mornings by 7am. We will also be publishing basic avalanche danger ratings & info during the week.

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