Quick report
We toured up to the Tincan trees today to check storm accumulations and see how far up the rain line had moved. There was heavy rain and temperatures in the high 30s °F along the Seward Highway during the drive up. We barely escaped the rain line, which conveniently hovered just below the Tincan parking area at 1,000'. Snow surfaces on the skin track were gloppy and heavy until about 2,000'—skin wax is highly recommended.
At 2,100', we dug a snowpit and observed approximately 6–8 inches of new snow. Our snowpit tests produced an unstable result (ECTP 25 ↓ 80), with the fracture propagating in the facet layer just below the 12/12 crust. Winds ramped up throughout the day, and there was plenty of evidence of active wind loading.
We skied a low-angle run down through the Tincan trees. Snow was supportable but very heavy from 1,500' down to the parking lot. When we reached the parking area at 2 p.m., the sky briefly opened up and the snow transitioned to rain.
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Weather
- Air Temp
- 34
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- 1000
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Wet and wild weather at Tincan today. Heavy rain on the Seward Highway gave way to snow at the Tincan parking lot (~1,000'). Snow was heavy at times on the skin track, and winds ramped up to moderate speeds near mid-elevations. The rain line gradually moved up throughout the day, and it was steadily raining at the parking area when we departed at 2 p.m.
Snowpack
We dug a snowpit at 2,100' on a south-facing slope. There was roughly 15 cm of new snow sitting on top of a 50 cm slab (MLK). Just below this slab was the 12/12 crust, with a large layer of facets beneath it. We had an unstable test result on this facet layer (ECTP 25 ↓ 80).