Date of Observation: 04/13/2023
Name: Evan Ross
Zone: Northwest Mountains
Route Description: Mt Baldy. NW and S.
Observed avalanche activity: No
Avalanches: I didn’t notice any new avalanche activity.
Weather: Cloud cover was partly cloudy through mid-day and then increased through the afternoon. Moderate winds at upper elevations.
Snowpack: Snow surfaces were frozen and supportable near the trailhead.
Skied NW into the P-Divide bowl and didn’t leave any tracks. Realized the no tracks thing could be a fun game during times like these. The snow surface was a thin supportable crust over dry snow.
Skied the South Bowl of Baldy around 1 pm. The crust wasn’t supportable off the top and ski pin was dropping into the wet mushy snow below. This was in part because of the below-average snowpack depth that exists in the top 1/4 of the bowl. We traveled skier left where the snow surface was supportable but I could still plunge my pole into the wet snow below. The snowpack was stronger in the runout either from the old avalanche debris or the increased snowpack depth.
The snowpack was supportable on the route back to the trailhead.
Quote from Than: “Remember, If it snows tonight, we get to claim that we skied the dirtiest day of the season… so far.”
Photos:-
- The Mt Baldy terrain park is still offering up some good jibs.
