Lolo Pass - Crystal

It was a warm day at Lolo Pass, and snow surfaces were wet everywhere I traveled in the afternoon. Ski conditions were sticky and manky. I was able to easily trigger rollerballs on a steep road cut. I suspect that on larger, steep middle elevation slopes, it would have been easy to trigger wet loose avalanches. Lolo Pass may be one of the few areas where there is enough snow for wet avalanches at low elevations. 

The snowpit I dug on a north aspect at 5800 ft showed our widespread layer of surface hoar buried by 2 inches of recent snow. This was not enough of a slab for the layer to be a concern yet. At lower elevations, the surface hoar appeared to be getting destroyed by the warming and melting of the snowpack. The surface hoar still appeared preserved at middle elevations, but it will be interesting to see if it can survive the prolonged warm temperatures over the next week. I also observed a crust facet layer buried 18" deep that produced non propagating results in extended column tests. A good reminder that these deeper crust facet layers still exist but are generally dormant.  

I dug a snowpit on a north aspect at 5800 ft. The total depth was 52" (133 cm). There was 2" of recent snow resting on a thin layer of .3-.6 mm surface hoar that was on a thin crust. There was a crust buried 18" deep that had facets just below it that produced non propagating results in extended column tests (ECTN29).