NW of Incline Peak

We toured out to the NW of Incline Peak today in the 8,300' to 9,700' elevation range. We traveled on NW-N-NE-E-SE aspects. We encountered the expected mix of snow surface conditions. There was surface melt-freeze crust and wet snow development on slopes with direct sun exposure up to our high point of travel. Any areas with both wind protection and shade held soft near surface facets, regardless of aspect throughout our elevation range. Near surface faceting has softened the snow surface in previously wind scoured areas that had light to moderate amounts of previous scouring during stronger, previous E winds events.

We dug a snowpit to look at the Jan 1 rain crust (see snowpack section below). We saw no current issue associated with this layer.

We dug a snowpit in near treeline terrain on a N aspect at 9,700' to look at the faceting on top of the Jan 1 rain crust. Snowpit tests did not reveal any signs of instability. Tests indicated that propagation along the Jan 1 weak layer is unlikely at this time.