Quick report
- Cracking
- specific
- Collapsing
- specific
I went to the ridge looking for changes since Saturday, and the ridge looked completely different, except right at the peak of Waterhouse. The peak had a little more snow, but many trees nearby continued to have no snow on them, despite the recent storm. The ridge itself was populated by wind sculpted cornices, many of them curving and overhanging. A hand shear test and a cornice stomp showed a wind consolidated layer of about 16 cm, basically from the surface down. Particularly on the ridge itself, there was strong evidence of wind effects. Generally there were wind effects on Grass Lake and in lower elevations areas, even in areas sheltered by trees.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 20's
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- Trace
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Light snow was falling throughout the tour. The SW winds were strong, and near the ridge, the snow was mostly blowing away. There were periodic bursts of sun and some blue sky every once in a while.
Snowpack
Just below the ridge at 9480 ft in a relatively sheltered area on a NW aspect, I measured variability in the height of snow between 155 cm and 212 cm. It was less than my HS measurement at Powderhouse the day before on a N aspect at 261 cm. There was a light crust on the surface and then a 16 cm wind slab. In a hand shear test, the slab slid without much effort on a weak layer of decomposing precipitation particles. Stomping on one of the many small cornices on the ridge, it failed after 4 good stomps.