Fox Peak

Capitalized on a calm and clear day to take an inventory of surface conditions and look for evidence of recent avalanche activity before another storm this weekend. We found a couple of recent small avalanches that failed on weak snow below last weekend's storm snow. There was poor snowpack structure and unstable test results on shaded NW-N-NE-E aspects. We observed thin, consolidated and sun-crusted snowpack on W, SW, S, and SE aspects.

We observed 3 small recent avalanches while in the field today and multiple localized collapses on a wind-loaded E slope above 9000 feet.

We found snow depths between 2 and 3 feet (50-100cm) across most of the terrain above 7000 feet. Surface conditions varied widely and often over short distances between 7000 and 9100 feet. These surface conditions included:

• Sun crusts were only on S-SW-W aspects
• Wind skins and thin wind slabs were found on all aspects but generally were not well-connected in the terrain we travelled through
• Faceted weak "sugary" snow was only on NW-N-NE-E aspects
• Pockets of preserved powder was found on NW-N-NE aspects

We dug two quick pits (photos below):

• NW aspect @9075 feet: 2 feet thick snowpack (65cm) with unstable test results failing in weak snow at the ground (ECTP21@6cm and PST27/100END@6cm).
• E aspect @9100 feet: 3 feet thick snowpack (100cm) with unstable test results failing in weak snow below the 12/13 crust (ECTP11@71cm and PST22/100END@71cm)
• We also found preserved surface hoar buried under the 12/13 crust on shaded aspects around 8000' in a few hand-pits