Re: Snowcone

Anybody hike/scramble up to the UYF snowcone? Just wondering how large it is this year.

I'll report back soon...

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Haven't been up there, but looking at it from the valley it is almost non-existent. Even if it were, the creek is flowing high and is pounding the snow cone area.

Seems with the flood and many of the warmer storms the park has been having, the snow cone has been non-existent all winter. The continued closure of the lower falls area because of the frazil ice maybe connected. The snow cone would capture most of the frazil ice and probably makes up a large portion of it. Without the snow cone the frazil ice is free to flow downstream. This might also explain why there is only typically frazil ice in the spring months but not during the winter months when you would expect it a lot more. At least that is my theory at the moment.

From the webcam, it doesn't seem like there's much of a snowcone. But perhaps the camera angle isn't ideal. The version I've seen wasn't tall at all, 2-3 years ago in Feb during the Horsetail window. The trail was open to the top, so I went all the way up and came back down. There wasn't much of a snowcone, barely even a mound at the base. Afterwards, poked around the El Cap nose for the benchmarker (didn't find it). Probably buried or shattered by the large boulders. Looking up at the wall from there was amazing. But the amount of rockfall was a bit scary, so didn't stick around for too long. Saw some climbers going up the stovepipe section. Still had enough time to go around the valley & get back to the picnic area for that lava show.

How high can the snowcone get? Would it be visible at all in the webcam?

You'd see it in the webcam. There's too much water coming down...
It ended up as Frazil ... over the lower falls... and ... there it sits...

Take a look at this:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,62216,62265#msg-62265

(or the whole thread... but that particular posty has historical and one I tooks)

The benchmarker ON the Nose... it's not there.. but you can find the hole that it was located in...
Go look for that... (I can post a pix if you think I'm pulling your leg) (I wouldn't do that) (would eye?)

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Found this on my iPhoney from last year...

Jan 18, 2016

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2017 11:07AM by chick-on.

That's decently-sized. Is that pretty normal, or can it get bigger/taller? Nice pile on Muir's Fern Ledge too. iPhoney: nice nickname. (cr)Apple does make fake phones

A hole on the actual wall/nose itself where the benchmarker used to be? Similar to the hole where the marker might have sat on Eagle Peak? Guess I'll take a look sometime. From old publications, there used to be a wooden sign that showed the elevation at the base, and at the top. 4144' and 7028' I believe.

From the 3 pix sample size... I'd say that's about normal... ish... but wudda eye no
But of course... nothing seems "normal" nowadays...

From Wednesday:


Lehimite was flowing nicely...


And Wildcat looked great too...


Eagle Peak rock is so crumbly... BM up there gone forever..
Ok... lemme find that nostril...

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Here's the nostril...


(I'm not pullin ur leg)

Go find it... it's right by the nose...

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With the amount of water coming over the falls...
and the bit of cold coming thru... the cone has been growing...

From Thur:


Saturday

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2017 07:52AM by chick-on.