Tamrack Peak

After seeing that it likely snowed 1-2 inches around the Mt. Rose backcountry in the last 24 hours and since we saw partially buried surface hoar on Relay peak yesterday. We decided to head up Tamarack Peak to see if the new snow had fully buried the surface hoar. We also wanted to check the wind-loaded areas along the ridges for wind slab development. As we moved up the hill, we could see and feel a thin (~ 1 inch) layer of more dense snow on the surface resting on lighter snow below it. We also noticed some small cracks about 2 inches below the surface. Those cracks prompted us to take a closer look, and when we did, we found the newly buried surface hoar. We stopped several times and found 2 to 6 mm surface hoar 1-2 inches below the surface on several N-NE aspects up to at least 9600 ft. This buried surface hoar may not represent much of a problem since it is currently only 1-2 inches below the surface. Still, it is worth watching in case it stays intact into the next larger storm.

In more wind-exposed places, we found wind-loaded slopes with stiff 6-8 inch wind slabs. We kicked on several test slopes. Our kicks produced small cracks that did not travel far from our skis.

While we found both buried surface hoar and wind slabs seperately, we did not find evidence of wind slabs sitting on top of buried surface hoar in the places we traveled.