Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
We traveled on the Southside of Mount Shasta today, from Bunny Flat to 8,900 feet in Cascade Gulch, passing through parts of Giddy Giddy and Anaconda Gulch. At the trailhead, there were about four to six inches of new snow overnight. This new snow is slightly denser than yesterday's due to warmer temperatures.
Apart from the varying new snow depths of 25 to 60 centimeters, the snowpack structure appears homogenous across all aspects and elevations traveled. We found storm slabs to be widespread, with the top 10 centimeters measuring 4F hardness and F-hard snow beneath, down to the new/old snow interface—a stout melt-freeze crust.
Regarding snow stability, compression tests at multiple locations revealed easy to moderately sensitive weak layers, with several fractures at density changes in the new snow. The most concerning was 10 centimeters down at the 4F/F-hard interface—something to watch for in the coming days with additional snowfall and wind loading. Extended column tests did not show propagation in any of the weak layers.
Cracking was isolated to steep treewells within the new snow.Weather
- Air Temp
- 25-32°
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Rain Elevation
- 4,500
- Recent Snowfall
- 25-60
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Light snowfall obscured the sky, falling at a rate of one to two centimeters per hour. Wind blew out of the WSW at light to moderate speeds. Temperatures were slightly warmer today in the mid 20s near the treeline and as warm as 32° F at the trailhead at 3:00 PM.