Quick report
We were happy to utilize groomed snowmobile trails to access upper elevations and look at the snowpack in this area of East Central. We found a strong but shallow snowpack with an unfortunately small amount of new snow on the surface. A thin, breakable crust over a more supportable layer made skiing challenging, but snowboarding looked to be a better tool for the conditions.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Recent Snowfall
- 2cm
It was an overcast day with snow showers in the morning. Winds were moderate at ridgeline and drifted around the minimal amount of fresh snow. We enjoyed some sun breaks as we were leaving in the afternoon.
Snowpack
At 5000ft on an east aspect we found 85cm of snow. The surface had around 2cm of fresh snow over a thin, breakable crust with some weak snow below. The midpack consists of melt forms, crusts, and the occasional layer of dry, rounding snow grains. The base of the snowpack is a thick layer of melt forms to the ground.
We noted some surface hoar that had undergone a melt-freeze cycle in a sheltered location at 4000ft, but it was not present at upper elevations and in areas exposed to the wind.