Warming in Johnson Canyon

We went to Johnson Canyon to see a variety of aspects and snow conditions. Before we left we closed off terrain steeper than 30 degrees. We skinned up a ridgeline with some E and NE facing wind-loaded test slopes on it. We kicked at these slopes and dropped some small cornices on them. This did not cause any signs of instability other than some minor sluffing. As we ascended the ridge, the wind loaded slopes got larger and steeper so we stopped testing them and observed them from a distance.

We moved to a more SW facing slope to keep skinning. Pole probes on this slope did not reveal signs of the Jan 4 persistent weak layer. This slope was sun-exposed and the surface snow started to become wet by lunchtime. We skied back down this slope and tried to ski cut some small steeper test slopes but we did not trigger any wet snow instabilities.

After this descent, we skinned back up to check out the N-NE aspects. On these slopes, we could feel the Jan 4 crust and softer snow around it about 2-2.5 ft. below the surface. We decided to get more details. Our snowpit tests showed that fractures could still propagate along this layer if it breaks. Near the top of the ridge, we found some more wind loaded test slopes with small cornices above them. The cornices broke easily but did not trigger cracking in the wind slabs below them. We found plenty of cold unconsolidated snow on the lower angle N facing slopes.

We returned to the car via low angle S facing slopes at 3 pm. These slopes had developed a thin breakable crust by that time.