Public Observation #2023-1098

Submitted:
March 21, 2023 1:38 PM
Observation Date:
March 21, 2023
Zone or Region:
Central Cascades
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Ball Butte
None reported
We skied the east facing bowl this morning. The snow was a little wind effected but it was still soft and skied fantastic. We skied SW, S, SE, and E aspects. We noticed that the snow lower down was more wind effected than up in the bowl. We did not observe signs of instability. By10 AM however, the wind was really ripping out of the east and was especially strong on the ridge...enough that talking was too difficult and it was almost pushing my balance. We observed moderate blowing snow near the top of the east facing bowl. Snow was being transported from the east aspects to the south and west aspects, and it was also being whipped straight up into the air. Between laps, our ski tracks in the bowl were almost entirely filled in. The SW aspect that had been smooth earlier in the morning was quickly becoming eroded. We had visibility into the BT bowl and it looked very wind effected and we were glad we hadn't toured there. :)
The snow was still soft and skiing great when we left around 11 AM, but conditions were changing quickly.