Quick report
We rode up to the Johnson Pass area from Trail Lake. It took a bit of tenacity getting through the alders once we were up at the pass, but we eventually made our way through the bush and ended up getting some good skiing around the Bench Peak area. Thin coverage overall, but there is quite a bit of snow on the ground above 2500'.
It was easy to find the 3/19 facet layer in test pits, but it was not producing unstable results. There was quite a bit of avalanche activity from the 3/19 storm, but the most recent avalanches all seemed to have occurred during or just after the storm. It was pretty surprising how even steep, rocky, south-facing terrain still hasn't had a really significant loose snow cycle. It seems the air temp is staying cold enough to keep the late March sun at bay. As soon as that switch flips and we start seeing surfaces melt, those steep southerlies will be something to keep a close eye on.
Stability seems to be improving, but it still doesn't feel like open season. We rode and skied multiple steep slopes, but we were still avoiding complex terrain with exposure or terrain traps. Hard to trust a facet layer.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- large amounts
Clear and cool. It was quite pleasant in the sun, but still pretty cold in the shade or even in a light breeze. We did not notice any surfaces melting by the time we were heading down at around 3:30.
Snowpack
We found around 6-10" of soft snow on the surface, which has been faceting over the past week of cool temps and clear skies. The 3/19 facet layer was buried about 10" deep on average, and seems to be gaining strength. We dug a pit on a west aspect at about 3200' elevation and did not get unstable results (ECTN15 on the 3/19 layer). Total snow depth was over 11' (340 cm) at our pit at 3200', but there was probably only 2' of snow on the ground at 1500' elevation.