Rock Creek

I went to look at surfaces and the snowpack in Rock Creek.

• I saw no recent avalanches. I got isolated cracking in hard wind slabs above loose, sugary snow on a northeast aspect at 10,900 ft.
• The snowpack is shallow and faceting. Surfaces are variable.
• It was such a lovely, calm day in the Eastern Sierra.

Short (~2 m) shooting cracks in several places across a slope. These cracks were in 1F-P hard old wind slabs 10-20 cm thick. Large, loose facets have developed under the slabs. These slabs are not large; they are scattered across slopes rather than stretching across whole slopes. I would say shooting cracks was the exception rather than the rule.

The snowpack is generally shallow and the faceting process is weakening the overall structure.

Below Treeline: HS was 0-70 cm.

Near Treeline to 11,100 ft.: HS was 60-100  cm.

Solar slopes are often bare ground with patchy snow. There was continuous snow to travel on these slopes consisting of melt-freeze crusts from 1 cm to 5 cm thick. These thawed a little midday.

Wind-exposed slopes had 1 cm to 20 cm 1F-P wind slabs, K icy wind board, or sastrugi. 

Sheltered slopes were facets top to bottom.