Tamarack Peak

We toured on Tamarack Peak this morning with the intention of departing the area before any thunderstorms developed in the vicinity. The snow surface was in melt phase when we left the parking area at 9:45 am. Snow surface melt continued throughout the morning hours despite increasing amounts of cumulus cloud cover obscuring the sun on a regular basis. On the 9,900' summit and in Hourglass Bowl, snow surface melt was notably greater on E to NE aspect terrain than on N aspect slopes. We noted an increasing number of areas of deeper ski penetration and shallow wet loose avalanche potential on E aspect terrain at 9,800' by 11 am.

On our initial ascent, we noted some surface hoar that had formed last night. We expected this surface hoar to be destroyed today by warming air temps but might survive to burial under new snow in isolated areas.

Snow cover loss in this area continues with notably more areas of bare ground and rock emerging from the snowpack below 8,900'-9,000' than when we last visited this area 3 days prior on April 6. Exercise caution with an early season mindset for shallow buried hazards of rocks, logs, and stumps if you visit this area during or after this weekend's snowstorm.