Observation: Baldy

Overall a stable, right-side-up snowpack with no widespread weaknesses found in upper Collins/Baldy terrain. There are a few mid-pack crusts - notably the old snow surface prior to this week's storm that is now buried down 20-30 cms. Last weekend some were finding facets above and below this crust, but I was unable to get any clean shears around this crust and ECT couldn't get any failures. Some were also finding a crust/facet/crust combo at this layer (Mark Staples observation) but I could only find one crust today and it was difficult to identify the facets.

The weakest snow I was finding was a layer of graupel down ~15-20 cms but there was no cracking observed on top of this layer and I suspect this weak layer will gain strength.

So far I am not seeing anything of concern in our early-season snowpack.

Storm snow since Tuesday has settled into a 20-30 cm slab of dense, cohesive snow. The dense snow keeps you at the surface providing for easy travel.

 

HS is 65 cms at ~10,000', although I suspect there are other north-facing zones with closer to 75-90 cms settled snow.