Changing Conditions on Porcupine Ridge

We skied the Porcupine Ridge Area with access from Heavenly. We observed blowing snow over the summits of Centerville and Job's Peaks. Our first decent to Monument Pass was at 9:15 am and on E-SE Aspects between 9,600 ft. to 8,900 ft.; we found soft, dry, unconsolidated snow that skied very well. We also noted signs of minor wind scouring in some of the more exposed areas. We then skinned to around 9,100 ft on Porcupine Ridge and skied to 8,000 ft on NE-E aspects in well-spaced and mature trees. Snow surfaces with a bit of textured were soft and skied well, while more exposed smooth surfaces had a thin breakable layer of wind affected snow. We noted interspersed graupel up to 3mm in size but did not observe any surface hoar.

We then stopped to dig a snow profile. The persistent weak layer of old facets showed clear signs of rounding and was moist;  it was over a meter deep and we could not identify a crust within the layer. We were not able to identify any of the buried surface hoar that could be present in that area. The last 25 cm of our pit was composed of many different layers and grains in between manzanita bushes; we chose not to specify a hardness due to the high variability. We completed a column test and extended column test and recorded scores of CTN and ECTN 26 @ 34cm down (Q3). After each test, we pried on both columns with failures in the old facet layer.

After filling in our pit, we skied the rest of the slope to 7,200 ft., where snow on E-SE aspects had begun to warm, melt, and was quite heavy. Our skin back took us through NE-S aspects up to 8,200 ft. All snow surfaces on E-SE-S aspects showed signs of warming/melting with intense solar input. Frequent natural, as well as skier triggered, roller balls and pinwheels were observed on those aspects. Most shaded NE-N aspects remained dry and wintery.

Picture 1: Photo of our first tracks around 9,000 ft on a SE aspect at 9:!5 am

Picture 2: The terrain off of Porcupine Ridge

Picture 3: The observation wall of our profile

Picture 4: Natural roller balls on E-SE terrain starting under an exposed rock face