Public Observation #2023-1148

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Toured out to Broken Top Thurs. Snow in the alpine is... variable. There are some pockets of great snow, and also spots where a crust is lurking just under the surface, and it's really hard to tell just from looking. There was some pretty good snow out at Ball, and the ramp on BT actually rode great. We also dropped over the notch past No Name to more N facing terrain, and the lower angle stuff there was great pow, but the steeps were variable. We watched a skier drop the steep NE face in what looked like amazing pow for 2 turns, but then it suddenly turned to a basically a solid ice runnel and sent him into a full rag doll. Fortunately he was OK, but damn. He confirmed the same situation, no visual indication from above that the snow was any different partway down.

Bring on the corn!

Pic: Got Cornice™?