Upper Lundy

I headed up Lundy to monitor softening surfaces and to get an idea of coverage in the upper Lundy area.

Overnight, mostly clear skies gave way to a supportable melt freeze crust at the surface. I found easy travel on this crust at all elevations. I found due east aspects to already be soft by 9:30 am, and northeast aspects were just beginning to soften as I began to descend at 10:30 am. Protected, due north aspects remained firm. Many of the surfaces I travelled on have been heavily impacted by our long-lasting warm weather, and smooth, planar surfaces were hard to come by. See the video for a good summary...

Coverage appeared significantly better further west, in the upper Lundy area, on north, east, and southeast aspects near and above treeline.

I found no signs of instability. I found an isolated pocket of deep, wet snow at 9800' on a due east aspect at 9:30 am.

The snowpack on northerly aspects at all elevations was capped by a supportable crust at the surface. 

Coverage was generally shallow, and only in previously wind-loaded pockets was there more than a meter of snow.

I was able to slide on snow from 11000' to 8100'.