Castle and Coon Canyon Observations

We toured out to Coon Canyon with our AIARE 2 course today in search of soft snow in the more wind protected terrain that drops north into the canyon. Moderate NE winds in the AM kept surface melt to a minimum and conditions remained firm for most of the morning as we toured up the South Ridge of Castle. The affects of the 1/20-1/21 wind event were apparent at all elevations, in most locations winds had scoured the snow surface down to the old rain crusts, where the rain crust was not exposed, wind erosion and sastrugi were present. We were greeted with soft, surface faceted snow in the sheltered trees as we rode down into Coon Canyon. This was a stark difference to the conditions higher in the alpine and in the more heavily trafficked trees on the front side of Castle. We did note wide spread surface hoar development in terrain steep enough to be start zones on subridges above Coon Canyon. As we toured out of the canyon, winds had diminshed and snow with direct solar influence had softened quite a bit. The slightest shadow or aspect change had major influence on surface melt and left snow firm and variable in those spots, even if most of the slope had direct sun exposure. Snow did not seem to warm up enough to create loose wet avalnches and no signs of instability were noted today.