Avalanche Advisory for 2015-12-27 06:50:22

Blue sky and sunshine were out in full force yesterday. The morning started out downright chilly. With the wind chill factor, superficial frostbite was certainly possible on exposed cheeks and ear lobes. We havn't had to bundle up like that in years! Temeratures did warm throughout the day and southerly facing slopes below approximately 7,700 feet took a bit of a hit. Four inches of settlement in the snowpack occured at the Old Ski Bowl station and a sun crust will likely be found today on the surface of the snow on lower elevation, sunny aspects. The warming temperatures have aided in stabilizing the snowpack and recent avalanches are/or instability are far and few between.

Skiing has been very good in certain areas with some of the lightest density snow Shastafarians have skied in a long time.... locally that is. These areas of great snow seem to be lower to mid elevation northerly and/or shady aspects or, most aspects mid to upper elevations... granted you don't find completely scoured, wind buffed, icy exposed areas. Any portion of terrain above treeline that is not a gully is wind packed powder or icy, old snow. Protected, lower lying gullies have amazing, light snow fluffed in and holds the best skiing.  The cold, clear nights of recent days has formed some surface hoar in low lying areas. Not a threat now, though zones that receive the most new snow on top of preserved surface hoar may be reason to consider raising the avalanche danger in the coming days. That said, preserved surface hoar almost always gets destroyed by wind in our best producing avalanche terrain above treeline. 

Snowpit data and stability tests have all indicated a strong snowpack overall. However, very small wind slabs on test slopes have been easily triggerable in extreme terrain on slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Easterly aspects are holding the largest wind slabs and although "small" in the grand scheme of things, one of these small wind slab could still be enough to sweep one off their feet and into undesirable terrain. So, continue to be careful when treading on unpredictable wind slabs. Mid and upper mountain observations are limited and wind slabs that have formed on icy crusts should be one's biggest concern today.  

Castle Lake skiing is in the picture now. The lake is mostly frozen. Mixed snow conditions with pockets of breakable crust have been observed. We have limited observations from the Castle Lake area. A still shallow snowpack is keeping most folks shredding on the mountain or at the Ski Park!

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The Sand Flat cross country ski trails are snow covered and ready for your cross country skis or snow shoes. These are backcountry trails marked with blue diamonds on trees. Trails are not groomed.  Snow shoers, please blaze a parallel trail to cross country skiers staying out of the skin track. Thank you, and Enjoy!

The Pilgrim Creek Snowmobile Park is open! Trails are being groomed currently. Head to our "Education" tab on our website and find the snowmobile section for trail information, grooming status and other sledder resources!

The Five Red Flags of Avalanche Danger any time of year include:  1) Recent/current avalanche activity  2) Whumpfing sounds or shooting cracks  3) Recent/current heavy snowfall  4) Strong winds transporting snow  5) Rapid warming or rain on snow.