Quick report
I went bushwacking in the Rock Creek area today and found crusts, facets, wet snow, and firm windboard. Shallow coverage, lots of bush, and a breakable crust below 9500' made my final descent feel like the rowdiest part of my day.
I found the metal (crampons) to be very useful while bootpacking up firm, high elevation, north-east facing terrain.
I found no signs of instability.Weather
- Air Temp
- 28
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Another splitter east side day. Clear skies, comfortable temperatures, and light winds shifted to the west early this afternoon.
Snowpack
- The Hilton area up Rock Creek has a shallow snowpack. Rocks, trees, creeks, and whatever else are resurfacing and were the primary hazards I faced today.
- Surfaces are beautiful and varied. Crusts, facets, wet snow, and windboard were all on the menu today.
- I found the 1/1 crust down about 30cm in places less affected by the wind and sun. Generally, only protected northerly aspects above 9500' still hold some semblance of "less affected" snow after the last 20 days of warm and sunny weather.
- In a hole on a northeast aspect at 9990', I found rounding depth hoar at the base of the snowpack. The depth hoar is decomposed old snow from before 12/24, and a stiffer (1F-P) midpack rests above it, formed from snow received during the 12/24 storm. Our 1/1 rain crust sits atop the stiffer midpack slab, with 30cm of weak, faceted snow above. At the surface, a more recent melt freeze crust capped the entire snowpack. This crust is likely from warm temperatures 1 week ago.
- In the same hole, an extended column test produced no failure initiation or propagation. ECTX