Quick report
Today I went from 7100' at Twin Lakes to 9300' on the NE shoulder of Crater Crest on N to E aspects. HS below 8,000' on a north facing moraine was generally around 80-90cm deep. Relatively thin but supportable enough for downhill travel while watching out for boulders and obstacles. This morning there was a breakable melt-freeze crust when I moved slightly off N facing sections of slopes. Surface snow was faceting on some N and NE facing protected slopes. By the time I rode down in the afternoon, some of the breakable crust had melted while it remained in other locations. Above 8,000' snow surfaces were variable, ranging from firm wind sculpted snow, soft faceting snow, breakable crust and some moist mush. At 9200' NE aspect weak facets were found at base of snowpack but were 150 cm below surface at this location and were stubborn to non-reactive in pit tests.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 40s
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
Temps quickly warmed up today. Clear skies and calm wind.
Snowpack
At 9200' NE aspect I found a HS of 178 cm. Not far from this location the ridgeline was scoured to bare ground. The top 150cm here was primarily 1F hard wind packed snow. Below this wind packed snow was a fairly stout crust with around 28 cm of F hard facets from there to the ground. No direct feedback was encountered from facets at base of snowpack during my travels. At 8200' NE aspect I observed an old D1 wind slab avalanche.