Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Widespread firm conditions exist across middle and upper elevations of Mt Hood. Be sure to bring the crampons, ice ace, and a good strategy to keep a slip from becoming a fall. Despite the firm snow, I still found isolated, shallow slabs of drifted snow above 6000 ft on leeward slopes ( NE-E- SE aspects).
Instibily confined to wind drifted pockets.Weather
- Air Temp
- High 20's
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 5000 ft
- Recent Snowfall
- 3 cm
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
It felt more like winter today with temps in the high 20's and moderate W winds. The cloud deck hovered around 7000 ft today leading to poor visibility in the alpine.
Snowpack
Overall, I observed a widespread firm snowpack. Our snowpack is now locked up above 5000 ft due to freezing temperatures, leaving a very slick crust at upper elevations. Having ski crampons was very helpful.
Despite the firm conditions, I still found pockets of reactive wind slab on leeward features above 6000 ft. These slabs were shallow (2-4 inches thick) but were poorly bonded to the underlying slick crust. It was easy to get these small pockets to fail.
Beyond the firm conditions and isolated wind slabs, the shallow conditions at lower elevations are worth a mention. At these elevations, the snowpack is beaten up and I observed plenty of open creeks, shallowly buried rocks, and stumps along the lower White River Canyon.