Spring Conditions on Little Roundtop

Location Name: 
Little Roundtop
Region: 
Carson Pass Area
Observation Date & Time: 
Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 10:30
Location: 
38.740227, -120.051641
See map: CalTopo
Is this an Avalanche Observation?: 
No


Conditions Alerts:

  • Rapid or Prolonged Warming
  • Rapid or Prolonged Warming›Strong Sunshine
  • Rapid or Prolonged Warming›Warm Temperatures

Terrain Alerts: 
Slopes Steeper than 30 degrees
Obvious Slide Path
Trigger Points
Terrain Traps
Observation made by: Professional Observer

Tabs

Observation
Description of Snow, Weather, and Avalanche Conditions: 

Toured out to Little Roundtop in the Carson Pass area. Snow on south facing slopes was fully supportable to skis until at about 9am (when I left this aspect). A light NW wind was moderating temps along the ridges. Snow remained firm on the ridge until 11am and later on more north facing aspects. Saw multiple previous cornice breaks, but none that triggered anything on slopes below. Evidence of widespread previous natural loose wet activity on midslope steep rollovers in the Little Roundtop/Showers Lake area. 

Descended NE slopes of Little Roundtop at 11am and found enjoyable soft snow that became increasingly soft as I moved onto a more E aspect. Ascending back to the ridge E and SE aspects were quite soft, but NE slopes remained firm. Descending again on SW and S aspects after 12:30pm, snow was supportable on SW aspects down to about 8500 feet. Below that the snow was unsupportable and turning was a good workout. 

Photo 1: Crack near cornices with growing moats. This is in an area with long cornices with moats on their backside as they pull away from the slope, and it was interesting to see these cracks significantly further back from the cornices. 

Photo 2: Cornices along the ridge to Little Roundtop. 

Photo 3: Boot penetration just after 11am on a NE aspect at 8700 feet. 

Photo 4: Previous broken cornice chunks along the ridge. 

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