Wet Snow in Shirley Canyon

On a short observations tour up Shirley Canyon this afternoon in our AIARE1 class, we found roughly 3-4" of wet snow on the surface on south and west aspects. Around 6700' on a west aspect, we were able to trigger a small loose wet avalanche on a slope measuring 35 degrees in steepness (photo 1). Nearby on a short, north-facing, 35-40 degree test slope, we found moist snow - what I would refer to as "hot pow" - and were able to trigger a few pinwheels, up to 18" in diameter, when ski cutting it (photo 2).

On our descent back down through low angle west, southwest, and south facing terrain in the late afternoon, we noticed sections of snow shaded by trees or terrain had begun to refreeze, while sunny patches were heavy and sticky. Snow cover in this area was mostly connected and easy to link for travel, but will quickly become disconnected and patchy with continued warm weather.

Winds were light on most of our tour but were moderate out of the northwest when we reached our high point on an exposed knob around 6700'.