Burdette Cabin/Onion

Quick report

Weather

cloudy

Ride Type

mellowSlopes, openTrees

Stayed Away

alpineSlopes

Riding Quality

ok

Snow Conditions

powder, windAffected

Avalanche Conditions

avalancheConditionSound

Rode at the Onion up to Burdette Cabin. Road up was rocky and snow was sparse. The meadows between the Old Onion cabin site and Burdette Cabin were fun with fair coverage, creeks are still wet and some are exposed from lack of cold, but due to lack of cold the snowpack is not completely faceted yet. noticed 3 surface hoar layers in sheltered terrain, and Basal facets forming on rocky terrain. whumping in the snowpack when walking around, again in more sheltered terrain at treeline, probably at the 75cm surface hoar layer. Surface hoar on the surface starting to form from the clear cold night before, and lots of extreme cross loading anywhere sheltered enough to catch snow in the alpine, but most of the snow conditions up high were bare. Overall fun day but lots of riding hazard like rocks, creeks, and anywhere there was a little Christmas tree farm, it was hard to get traction once you broke into the lower part of the snowpack. The snowpack felt very firm, but I could see if you trigger the right swallow spot at the end of a loaded sheltered feature, possibly ripping out a slab on the 75cm surface hoar layer.

Weather

Wind Speed

windSpeedModerate

Sky Condition

brokenClouds

Precipitation Type

none

Snowpack

Depth

105

Site Aspect

S

Test Fracture

unevenBreak

Test Initiation

hard

Foot Penetration

35

Test Failure Depth

75

Site Elevation Band

tln

Surface Conditions

surfaceHoar

Whumpfing Observed

1

Test Failure Layer Crystal Types

surfaceHoar

Dug a quick pit, ended up being on a rock. noticed surface hoar layers at 74cm, 65cm, and 45cm. 5-10 cm a basal facets at ground, but again was on a rock, where we trenched while sledding basal facets only looked to be 4-5 cm at ground. Noticed whumping when walking around in a few places that were sheltered, and notice surface hoar starting to for from the clear night before. A quick compression test had a hard result on surface hoar at 74 cm, and the small slab was broken.