Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
We observed generally stable conditions and beautiful weather today. North and east aspects had been previously wind loaded but were now stubborn. Persistent weak layers, most notably near crust facets around a melt freeze crust approximately midday down in the snowpack, are trending well towards healing. The snowpack on southerly slopes was getting warm at upper and middle elevations by the end of the day but was not yet considered damp by the time we exited the field.
We were able to get some stubborn shooting cracks in soft, recently formed wind lips on the east side of ridgelines.Weather
- Air Temp
- 2-8 at upper elevations
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 15
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Overall a gorgeous day out. The sky was partly cloudy throughout the day. Temperatures started out cold in the morning and began to warm significantly by through the afternoon. It felt very warm in the sun but still quite cold in the shade. The wind was calm/light and from the north and west.
Snowpack
Shadier north and east aspects remained cool and dry throughout the day. Warmer south and west aspects began to see some dampening and crusting by the afternoon. We observed medium sized surface hoar on all aspects that had been knocked over.
We dug our first pit on a NE aspect at 7800'. The depth of this pit was 70" (179cm). At the top of the pit, we found a 22" (57cm) thick slab of previsouly wind transported snow as well as a small layer of 5-6mm graupel. Below this we found four finger (4F) - one finger (1F) facets above and below two melt freeze crusts. We found a knife (K) hard ice lense overlaying basal facets near the ground. We performed an extended column test and got moderate non-propagating results within the slab at the top of the snowpack (ECTN11). We performed a propagation saw test and got propagation a little over halfway through the cut within the layer of facets above the first cut (PST 55/100 End).
We dug out second pit on a S aspect at 7800'. The depth of this pit was 61" (156cm). At the top of the pit, we found a 28" (73cm) thick slab of decomposing fragments and rounded grains. Below this we found a melt freeze crust with 1F rounding facets above and below it. Below this, we found a K hard ice lense overlaying basal facets near the ground. We performed an extended column test and got moderate non-propagating results within the slab at the top of the snowpack (ECTN13, ECTN17). We performed a propagation saw test and got no results in a cut within the layer of rounding facets above the crust. We drew another cut below the ice lense in the basal facets and got propagation a little under halfway through the cut (PST 100/100 X, PST 45/100 End respectively).