Bethel Ridge

Without mincing words, East South is a bit of a sorry site. There is very little snow coverage on all aspects and elevations. You could get away with skiing north and east aspects if you can get to them. It would be very difficult to snowmobile just about anywhere from a sno park trailhead, but if the road is open to drive further, you may be able to get away with snowmobiling. Evidence of previous warming in the form of runnels, avalanches, and droopy cornices is abundant. The good news is that most of the water has drained from the snowpack. This, along with a thick, supportable surface crust, has created stable conditions moving forward.

We observed plentiful signs of the snowpack warming, but nothing new from the last 48 hours.

Thanks to an overnight refreeze, surfaces on both solar and polar aspects were supportable throughout most of the day, though with some differences. On solars, the snow was softening, and you were stepping in 10-15cm. If you stepped too close to a tree or rock, you would punch through all the way, but this was to be expected. This is, however, where there was actually snow. At lower elevations, there is no snow on southerly aspects. At middle elevations, there is patchy snow in the trees, and no snow out in the open on slopes that have an angle. It's a similar story at upper elevations as well.

Alternatively, on polars, the snow remained very hard and supportable all day. You could just edge a boot in enough to feel safe without crampons. Snow coverage is...questionable on these colder aspects as well. We struggled to find coverage consistent enough to ski anywhere. We dug a pit on a north aspect at 6200 ft. The snowpack depth was 120cm (47in). At the top, I found a 13cm (5in) thick melt freeze crust, with a 1cm (0.4in) ice lense underneath. This is what created the very supportable surfaces. There are grains underneath the ice lense that are beginning to facet, which wasn't very surprising to see and I am not concerned about at the moment. Further down, the snowpack was still holding onto a bit of moisture, making it softer and weaker. Thanks to the surface crust though, this didn't alarm me too much. I did not perform any snowpack tests.