Observation Date: 01/07/2018

Route/Location:
Popular skin route up to the ridge between Sunrise Bowl and Terrain Trap Bowl.

Weather:
28 degrees F, Mostly cloudy, ridge top winds: 15-20 mph from the west, no precipitation.

Wind:
15-20 mph from the west. Signs of snow transport to the more eastern/northern aspects was evident. Wind crust were abundant on ridge tops.

New Snow: 0-3″

Avalanche Activity:
No recent avalanche activity was observed.

Other Comments:
Overall, our day up at Stonewall showed a snowpack trending towards stabilizing when compared to two-weeks ago when the area was in the midst of the holiday storm cycle(s). We performed two ECTs which both resulted in ECTX. The tests were performed at 6400ft elevation on a SW aspect. Total snowpack depth was 175cm. The 10cm facet layer that rests on a ice crust (at 35 cm from the ground) was still present but the ice crust was showing signs of it breaking down as it was not as hard of a surface as it was two-weeks ago. The most fascinating part of our day was a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred around 12:30. The ground shook and we could hear a rumble while skinning up to the ridge. It was pretty cool. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000c1sq#executive

Observer: Byrd Al