Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
Took the sled up to the Horton Ridge summer parking lot and skied up to the saddle below Roothaan, My first thoughts when stepping off the sled was "another crust layer in the pack". For the most part there was only ~5" of fresh snow on a firm, but breakable crust from 5800' to my top out at about 7,000'. Under that crust is another 5-6" of unconsolidated (F/4F) snow to the next crust. Lots of hollow drum sounds coming from the wind pillows on the way up. Excellent touring snow, but a bit on the grabby side on the turns when skiing. The upper crust was more supportive, with a definite transition to weaker crust around 6,000' and below. Cracking under the skis with each step but not much propagation. No great visuals. By far the deeper, best skiing snow is on the northerly faces. I poked around but couldn't find a safe return route so stayed on the south-facing aspects for a couple of runs. Dug a quick pit at about 6,900' S,SW aspect. While not nearly as much new snow as the Cabinets or the Silver Valley, the same pesky layers are protected in the pack. CT12 @11", CT 24 @ ~20". The rain/ice layers in the top 2 feet are all supported by unconsolidated facets and old surface hoar, so once the crust breaks, there's no support...Not a trustworthy snow pack, but plenty of conservative choices. Access is tough for sleds down low. I got lucky with the new few inches, but definitely was worse on the way down as much had melted.